Presented 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 
 by 
 
 ^FV*<2^<S \ CK <2/ r\^V(7\VV o 'TA 
 
 Division 
 
 Section >•• 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 V. 
 
 
 
 
 
THE FOREIGNER IN CHINA. 
 
Home-Life in China. 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. M. I. BRYSON, 
 
 OF THIS LONDON MISSION, WUCHANG, CHINA. 
 
 AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 
 
 150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. 
 
r 
 
 t 
 
 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 « 
 
 MORE than nine years ago I set sail for far-off 
 China. Since then the city of Wuchang-fu, 600 
 miles up the great Yang-tse-kiang, has been my 
 home. 
 
 When I arrived there, how extraordinary the 
 little pig-tailed boys and small-footed girls looked 
 to me, and how much I wished to be able to un- 
 derstand them when they were chattering away 
 to each other in words which sounded so strange 
 to me. 
 
 After a while I learned to speak to them in 
 their own language. They would follow me in 
 large numbers along the narrow streets, and gather 
 round me wonderingly as I sat down on the green 
 slopes of their city wall. By-and-by some of 
 them came to our schools, and became very well 
 known to me. 
 
 Many of the Chinese have paid me constant 
 visits at the Mission House, the sick coming for 
 medicines, the poor and those who were in trouble 
 for relief and comfort. Not a few who were well 
 and strong came also with their relatives to make 
 friendly calls, and look at the strange things that 
 were to be found in a “foreigner’s” house. 
 
 I have sojourned with Chinese children in 
 their own little cottages among the mountains, 
 
6 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 and travelled with the boatmen’s families across 
 some of the great Chinese lakes and down the 
 broad river. 
 
 Some of them I have visited in their ancient 
 homes, surrounded by lofty whitewashed walls, 
 looking very gloomy outside and very comfort- 
 less within, notwithstanding much grandeur of 
 carved wood and painting. 
 
 The acquaintance of other children has been 
 made as they crouched, half-starved with cold 
 and hunger, within the frail mat shed which they 
 called home. Many a talk I have had with their 
 mothers about our children ; and the better I knew 
 them the more earnestly I longed to do them 
 good and make them happy. And now I want 
 you to become acquainted with these Chinese 
 families too. 
 
 You cannot all take the long journey to China, 
 so I will tell yon something of what I have seen, 
 and write out for yon the stories of a few of my 
 Chinese friends. When you have read the book, 
 I trust that, knowing much more about China’s 
 people, yon will wish to do more than you have 
 ever done before to make them as happy as you 
 are. 
 
 Should this be so, I shall feel very thankful 
 and glad that I have told you a little of what I 
 have seen and heard in the great land of China. 
 
 MARY ISABELLA BRYSON. 
 

 <n: u 
 
 PART I. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I. A CHINESE BABY 
 
 II. A CHILD'S HOME AND FRIENDS . 
 
 III FAMILIAR SCENES 
 
 IV CHINESE BOYS AT SCHOOL 
 V. CHINESE BOYS AT PLAY 
 
 VI. CHINESE GIRLS A T HOME . 
 
 VII TWO BOY-EMPERORS OF CHINA . 
 
 VIII. CHINESE FESTIVALS AND HOLIDAYS . 
 
 IX. IDOLATRY AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 X. TEACHING CHINESE CHILDREN . 
 
 PAGE. 
 . II 
 
 23 
 
 . 40 
 
 56 
 
 • 75 
 [92 
 
 . 122 
 132 
 
 • I 5 I 
 17S 
 
 PART II. 
 
 I YAU-TING; OR, FIRST-FRUITS GATHERED . 197 
 
 II. SHIN- XU; OR, THE NEW DAUGHTER . . 210 
 
 III. CHIH-SHWIN; OR, THE MANDARIN'S LIT- 
 TLE PAGE 226 
 
8 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 IV. BRIGHT HOPES CLOUDED; OR, THE STORY 
 
 OF A CHINESE SCHOOLGIRL . . . 233 
 
 V CHIVIN-E ; OR, THE FLOWER THAT FADED . 247 
 
 VI. YANG KIEN-TANG ; OR, THE BOY WHO BE- 
 CAME A DOCTOR 254 
 
 VII. KAI-KWEI; OR, THE YOUNG SOLDIER . . 266 
 
 VIII. TA-KU AND ER-KU; OR, THE TEACHER'S 
 
 DAUGHTERS 274 
 
 IX. HOW SKEI-KU WAS CURED OF RUNNING 
 
 AWAY 283 
 
 X. REFUSING TO BOW DOWN IN THE HOUSE 
 OF RIMMON ; OR, THE STORY OF 
 CHANG-FU 287 
 
 XL CHIANG-S WEI; OR, THE PREACHER'S SON . 294 
 
 XII. THE MANDARIN'S THREE DAUGHTERS . 301 
 
 XIII. CONCLUSION 
 
 309 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 THE FOREIGNER IN CHINA 4 
 
 A CHINESE LADY 25 
 
 A CHINESE GENTLEMAN 33 
 
 A SLEEPING APARTMENT 37 
 
 CHINESE CITY WALLS 41 
 
 A STREET BARBER 45 
 
 A BOYS’ SCHOOL 57 
 
 THE PUNCH AND JUDY SHOW . . 79 
 
 CHINESE TOY-SELLER ... . 83 
 
 SELLER OF SWEETMEATS 87 
 
 A CHINESE LANTERN AND BEARER . . . . 91 
 
 GOLDEN LILIES— BARE AND SHOD ... 101 
 
 PRINCE RUNG 125 
 
 A STREET BEGGAR IJ 5 
 
 NEW YEAR’S MODE OF SALUTATION . . . .150 
 
 B UDDHIS T PRIES TS U 3 
 
 THE YELLOW STORK TOWER 160 
 
 WUCHANG 161 
 
IO LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 ORPHAN ISLAND, POYANG LAKE 165 
 
 SERVICE FOR THE DEAD 173 
 
 ARRIVAL OF A FOREIGNER 183 
 
 A VILLAGE AUDIENCE 221 
 
 CHINESE CHESS-PLAYERS 251 
 
 HANKOW, FROM THE HANYANG HILL . . .255 
 
 THE VICEROY LI HUNG CHANG 261 
 
 THE CHINESE WORD FOR “FAITH" . . .264 
 
 A CHINESE COURTYARD 303 
 
HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 
 PART I. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A CHINESE BABY. 
 
 Pigtail and almond-shaped eyes were the 
 characteristic features of John Chinaman, or, 
 rather, of the picture which fancy painted of him 
 in my childhood’s days. 
 
 My ideas upon the subject were gleaned from 
 close study of the tea-chests, adorned with strange- 
 looking figures in impossible attitudes, and from 
 kindred works of art painted on delicate china- 
 ware. 
 
 I used to dream over the willow-pattern plate, 
 with its wonderful picture -story. The bridge 
 over which the three Celestials were running, the 
 extraordinary foliage of the trees, the queer little 
 boat with its one sailor, and the two doves which, 
 hovering in mid-air, surveyed the scene — all were 
 objects of the keenest interest to me. It is a long 
 time now since the days of which I am writing, 
 
12 
 
 home-life in china. 
 
 yet the far-off “Middle Kingdom” and its strange 
 inhabitants have only grown in attractiveness to 
 me. 
 
 For many years past my home has been with- 
 in its boundaries, and to-day it seems almost as 
 much ‘ ‘ my ain countree ’ ’ as the shores of dear 
 old England. 
 
 Remembering, therefore, my youthful interest 
 in that distant and wonderful land, I will ask you 
 to walk with me through Chinese streets, to enter 
 the strange homes so different from your own, to 
 listen to the accents of the ancient language spo- 
 ken by the people, and to make the acquaintance 
 of some of the boys and girls whose lot has been 
 cast there. 
 
 It is a long journey of more than ten thousand 
 miles which I am asking you to take before we 
 shall reach the shores of that vast empire, which 
 is larger even than the continent of Europe and 
 is inhabited by more than a quarter of the human 
 family. 
 
 In so large a country we have naturally every 
 variety of climate. We have also lofty mountains 
 whose peaks are always capped with snow, and 
 mighty rivers, one of which, the grand Yang-tse- 
 kiang, is the longest in all Asia. In the interior 
 there are immense plains and splendid water com- 
 munication.. The Grand Canal, originally more 
 than six hundred miles in length, unites the 
 Yang-tse with the Yellow River, connecting 
 
A CHINESE BABY. 
 
 Peking in the north with Hangchow in the cen- 
 tre. 
 
 Far away to the north rises the great wall of 
 China, more than twelve hundred miles in length. 
 It was built by one of the Chinese emperors to 
 keep out the Tartars; but it failed to accomplish 
 the end for which it was built, since at the pres- 
 ent time the Emperor of China is a Tartar. 
 
 Not only is China so extensive and grand a 
 country, but it is the most ancient empire now in 
 existence. In the far-off ages of the past, when 
 Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, the 
 Chinese were a strong nation, with laws and a 
 literature of their own. Some ten years after the 
 child Samuel heard the voice of God speaking to 
 him in the still midnight hours, a Chinese emper- 
 or named Wun Wang was writing a book which 
 is one of the standards of education in China to- 
 day, and is committed to memory by all the ad- 
 vanced students in the empire. And when our 
 own predecessors were only painted savages, wan- 
 dering about the forests of Britain, the Chinese 
 were enjoying a high degree of prosperity and 
 civilization. 
 
 I will not, however, in the meantime stay to 
 write more of the country which they inhabit, 
 but at once introduce to you some of the children 
 of the land; for when you become acquainted 
 with the training and manner of life of the young 
 people of a country, you gain a pretty good idea 
 
i4 
 
 home-life in china. 
 
 of the kind of men and women they will become 
 by-and-by. 
 
 Let us commence with the very beginning of 
 life, and, going into one of these Chinese houses, 
 have a peep at the baby, lying in his bamboo cra- 
 dle with its heavy framework and rockers, while 
 his bright black eyes peer up at you curiously out 
 of his small, sallow face. 
 
 If it is summer-time, baby is not troubled with 
 much clothing, a single airy garment being con- 
 sidered quite sufficient. During the cold days of 
 winter, there being no fires lighted for warming 
 Chinese houses, baby is muffled in so many tiny 
 wadded garments that he looks like the queerest 
 little ball imaginable. His clothes are not white 
 like an English child’s, but of some bright color, 
 usually scarlet. Round his fat little wrists you 
 will notice a red cord has been tied. This is con- 
 sidered by his parents a very important matter, 
 and serious consequences are dreaded if it should 
 be neglected. When a child is disobedient and 
 difficult to manage, a common remark is, “Surely 
 his parents forgot to bind his wrists;” for this 
 mysterious operation is practised with the idea of 
 making the little fellow docile and obedient in 
 future life. Round the baby’s neck you will see 
 another piece of red cord has been tied, and sus- 
 pended from it are quite a number of small objects 
 which are supposed to act as charms, preserving 
 the little one from the attacks of evil spirits and 
 
A CHINESE) BABY. 15 
 
 guarding him against numerous childish com- 
 plaints. Here are a number of small copper 
 coins, each with a hole through the centre. They 
 are the only currency of China. After being 
 nicely rubbed up they are hung round baby’s 
 neck, and are supposed to insure his freedom from 
 attacks of colic and other ailments of infancy. 
 Some of the charms are in the form of fabulous 
 animals; occasionally they are made of silver. 
 But whatever the shape or material, they are a 
 great source of satisfaction to the baby, who bites 
 and jingles them with all the delight of an Eng- 
 lish child playing with its coral and bells. On 
 the day that baby is a fortnight old special 
 thanksgiving is made, and offerings are laid be- 
 fore the family shrine of the goddess called 1 1 Mo- 
 ther.” 
 
 But the most important event in the early days 
 of a Chinese baby is the occasion on which his 
 first month of life is celebrated. If baby is a boy, 
 and particularly a first-born son, all the relatives 
 and connections from far and near are invited to 
 come to a grand feast in honor of the happy day. 
 No one is expected to arrive empty-handed, and 
 baby’s riches in the way of silver rings, charms, 
 and lucky cash, not to mention painted ducks’ - 
 eggs and piles of sweetmeats and cakes, have ac- 
 cumulated considerably before the day is over. 
 The great event of the day is the shaving of the 
 child’s head. Chinese nurses are amazed to find 
 
i6 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 that English boys and girls, whose mothers neg- 
 lect this important duty, can still boast of flowing 
 locks when the years of childhood are passed. 
 The baby's head is shaved before the ancestral 
 tablets, or the shrine of “Mother,” and the bar- 
 ber who performs the delicate operation, though 
 he makes no charge, finds it the most profitable 
 part of his business, since a money present is will- 
 ingly given. 
 
 The baby’s grandmother has an important 
 part to play on this occasion: she is the principal 
 guest of the day, and if she belongs to the wealth- 
 ier classes the presents she sends are generally 
 numerous and costly. The most important of 
 these is a gay little cap, ornamented with em- 
 broider}’ and eighteen gold, silver, or copper fig- 
 ures of the disciples of Buddha, which are be- 
 lieved to attract all good influences towards their 
 little wearer. 
 
 On the same day baby receives his ‘ 1 milk ’ ’ or 
 pet name. But this does not, of course, serve him 
 all his life through, for when he is old enough to 
 go to school the master selects a name for him; 
 and later on, when he is married, or if he is for- 
 tunate enough to succeed in the competitive ex- 
 aminations, he will probably receive yet a third 
 name. 
 
 These “milk” names are sometimes very ex- 
 traordinary’ to English ears; for the parents are 
 afraid to give their children the fine, high-sound- 
 
A CHINESE) BABY. 
 
 *7 
 
 in g names their love suggests, lest the evil spirits, 
 of whom they stand in constant fear, should come 
 to understand how precious they are and cause 
 some calamity to overtake them. 
 
 And so you constantly meet with children an- 
 swering to the names of Little Stupid, Vagabond, 
 Flea, Dirt, or Spring Dog, the idea being that 
 when the spirits hear the little ones called by 
 such uncomplimentary names they will imagine 
 that the parents care very little for them, and will 
 not take the trouble to molest them. 
 
 This foreboding that disaster may befall a 
 child, particularly an only son, is the reason why 
 many little boys wear the dress of a Buddhist 
 priest and have their heads kept shaved till they 
 are eight or nine years of age. By that time, if 
 they are strong and well, they are dressed like 
 other boys; the period of anxiety is supposed to 
 have passed, and the parents imagine they have 
 successfully deceived the spirits by the ruse of 
 making it appear they cared so little for their son 
 that they were willing to make him a Buddhist 
 priest. 
 
 And now, at the very beginning of the baby’s 
 life, you will find how widely the customs of 
 China differ from those of our own land. In 
 England, whether the baby is a boy or a girl, it 
 is welcomed and loved by its parents; and in a 
 family the little girls are considered as precious as 
 
 their brothers. But in China it is quite different. 
 
 2 
 
l3 HOME- LIKE IN CHINA. 
 
 When the news of a baby’s birth is sent to the 
 relatives and friends, the sex of the child is the 
 most important part of the announcement. If it 
 is a boy, rejoicings are general and all the friends 
 call upon the family with presents and congratu- 
 lations. But if the baby is a girl, the parents are 
 considered to be more .in need of sympathy than 
 congratulation, and the kindest remark any soft- 
 hearted visitor can possibly be expected to make 
 is, “ Ah, well, even girls are of some use !” 
 
 Not unfrequently when a little girl is born its 
 parents will drown it rather than have the trouble 
 of bringing it up. Some women have destroyed 
 as many as five or six little girls in this way. To 
 save the babies from being put to death kind- 
 hearted Chinamen have established foundling 
 hospitals in many Chinese cities. The tiny baby 
 girls are taken in there when cast off by their fa- 
 thers and mothers, and are given out in great 
 numbers to country-women to nurse. It is a 
 strange sight, once a month, to see these little 
 foundlings being brought in from their country 
 homes with their foster-mothers and taken to the 
 foundling hospital for inspection. Some come in 
 small round baskets, slung from the end of a long 
 pole carried on a man’s shoulders. If the babies 
 are plump and well the nurses receive their pay, 
 but if they look thin or ailing a considerable re- 
 duction is made in their wages. Many other 
 foundling hospitals have been established by the 
 
A CHINESE BABY. 
 
 *9 
 
 Roman-catholics; and it is not unusual for the 
 wife of a Protestant missionary to hear the low 
 wail of a new-born baby girl which has been left 
 upon the doorstep of the mission house by parents 
 who, though not willing to take the baby’s life, 
 were very anxious to get rid of it. Sometimes a 
 man is employed to go round with a number of 
 children and try to dispose of them for money. 
 One of our missionary friends in the Fuh-kien 
 province was offered the chance of purchasing 
 three little wailing babies, hungry and cold, after 
 being carried with several others round for sale 
 through a long day. If she would take the lot, 
 the baby merchant said she should have them 
 cheap. 
 
 If a Chinese baby dies no loving hands pre- 
 pare it for its grave. A piece of coarse matting 
 is tied around the tiny body, and it is carried to a 
 little tower erected outside most cities, with little 
 openings like windows, but without doors. All 
 that is left of baby is thrown in through one of 
 these openings and falls into the pit below the 
 tower. If the little one is a girl the parents are 
 not always particular to ascertain if it is quite 
 dead or not. The very fact of a baby’s death 
 convinces the parents that the little one was no 
 precious gift to be treasured, but possessed by 
 some evil spirit, and only the source of anxiety 
 and misfortune from tire first, and the sooner they 
 forget all about it the better. 
 
20 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 The baby girl’s head is shaved, but with few 
 of the rejoicings that attend the same event in 
 her brother’s life; and she very frequently re- 
 ceives some such name as Chien-ti, u Lead along 
 a brother,” Lai-ti, “Come, younger brother,” 
 with the idea of expressing the hope that she 
 may soon be succeeded by a baby boy. Some- 
 times, if she is the second or third child in a fam- 
 ily, she is called simply, Daughter Number One, 
 or Two, as the case may be. Occasionally some 
 more poetical designation is chosen, such as Pearl, 
 Fragrance, or Peace; or the name of a flower is 
 selected, as Narcissus, Lily, or Rose. 
 
 After the shaving festival baby is carried out 
 to pay its first visit to its grandmother. On this 
 occasion she presents the child with a number of 
 small gifts, each of which has some good signifi- 
 cation. Several kinds of vegetables which attain 
 to maturity very rapidly are offered, as expressing 
 the old lady’s desire that baby may likewise quick- 
 ly grow strong and sturdy; and rice husks, which 
 signify that it is her wish that her small grandson 
 should grow up a proficient scholar and a famous 
 man. When the baby reaches the age of four 
 months he is taught to sit in a chair, and so re- 
 lieve his mother or attendant of the care of nurs- 
 ing him. Soft sugar-candy is placed on the little 
 chair, and it is thought that henceforth baby will 
 be very fond of sitting in it. 
 
 When the child goes out of doors he is fre- 
 
 o 
 
A CHINESE BABY. 
 
 21 
 
 quently strapped upon the back of his attendant; 
 the women of the poorer classes, while carrying 
 their children in that position, manage to attend 
 to most of their domestic duties. 
 
 A solemn, patient little being is the Chinese 
 baby in general, putting up with indignities which 
 an English child would violently resent. But he 
 can laugh with the merriest when his mother 
 holds him up to her face, not to kiss, but to smell 
 his soft brown cheek. He likes to hear the strange- 
 ly unmusical voice in which she drones out the 
 high notes of the “Mo li wlia,” or some other 
 popular tune, and claps his small hands together 
 gleefully to the nursery rhyme of: 
 
 One, strike the hand ; 
 
 Two, let us play ; 
 
 Three, draw the bow. 
 
 The day that is kept with greater rejoicings 
 than any other in the baby’s life is the anniver- 
 sary of his birth. A great feast is spread, to which 
 even the most distant relatives are invited, and 
 every dainty known to the cuisine of China decks 
 the festal board. 
 
 Presents, as usual, come pouring in on all sides; 
 but the most suitable offering is supposed to be a 
 pair of embroidered shoes, since baby will soon be 
 thinking of walking alone. Very gay indeed are 
 the slippers, which have been worked by the skil- 
 ful fingers of all the female relatives. Some are 
 embroidered with the head of a cat, thereby ex- 
 
22 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 pressing a hope that baby may become as sure- 
 footed as pussy. Some are decorated with the 
 head of a frog, others have pretty floral designs, 
 and yet another will bear the mystic symbol whose 
 signification is, ‘ ‘ May all you wish be yours. ’ ’ 
 
 After the feast a very important ceremony is 
 performed. The little scarlet-coated hero of the 
 day is placed in the middle of a table which usu- 
 ally stands just in front of the ancestral tablets. 
 Around the little man are ranged a great variety 
 of articles, such as a mandarin’s button and neck- 
 lace, books, ink-slab and pencil, a string of cash, 
 artificial flowers, and other things significant of 
 various professions and trades. The question of 
 the day is, Which object will attract the baby’s 
 attention, and, being grasped by his tiny hand, 
 indicate his future career in life? The baby’s 
 grandmother is usually careful to have the arti- 
 cles of best omen nearest to the child's hand. But 
 if the baby grasps the glittering button and beads, 
 the excitement is intense, and congratulatory 
 phrases are heard on every side. 
 
 Very numerous are the thanksgivings and pro- 
 pitiatory services performed at some idol-temple, 
 or before the family shrine, during the first two 
 years of the baby’s life. All of them are attended 
 with burning of incense and paper money, letting 
 off of crackers to frighten away evil spirits, and 
 din of gongs and cymbals. 
 
A child’s home and friends. 
 
 23 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A child’s home and friends. 
 
 When first the bright black eyes of the Chi- 
 nese child begin to gaze with some intelligence 
 upon the strange new world in which it has come 
 to live, the sights it sees are, for the most part, 
 very different from those which attract the notice 
 of an English child. 
 
 The first object of deepest interest with our 
 baby Chinaman, as with his English brother, is 
 always the face of his mother. And how unlike 
 she is to an English mother ! She has dark eyes, 
 like the baby’s, and raven locks, which are drawn 
 tightly back from her face and used to cover a 
 queer framework, looking like butterflies’ wings, 
 or in some other fantastic shape. Her forehead 
 appears very broad, since, just betore her wed- 
 ding-day, all the short hairs over her brow were 
 drawn out to give it this wide, open appearance. 
 
 Several of her finger nails are very long, for 
 that is a sign that she is a lady, and has little 
 work to do with her hands. To keep these nails 
 from breaking she wears over them little shields 
 of gold or silver. But look at her feet ! Could 
 any one ever imagine that they were the feet of a 
 grown-up woman? They have been bound and 
 
24 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 compressed with strong cotton bandages from her 
 childhood, and now she can wear tiny slippers 
 only three inches long, made of bright-colored 
 satin, and very beautifully embroidered. Every 
 one admires her very much, and says that when 
 she moves it is as the “ waving of the willow- 
 trees,” and they call her poor distorted feet “gold- 
 en lilies.” As we look at her our wonder is how 
 she can manage to walk at all without coming to 
 grief. 
 
 Her dress also looks strange to European eyes. 
 She wears a loose tunic of some bright-flowered 
 silk, trimmed with braid which is woven with 
 silk and gold thread. Her sleeves are more than 
 a yard round, and adorned with strips of beautiful 
 embroidery. She wears loose trousers underneath 
 the tunic, and when in full dress a kilted skirt, 
 which is also richly trimmed. She can boast of 
 a large stock of jewelry, and she wears many 
 pins of elaborate workmanship in her dark locks. 
 Her ears are quite weighed down by her large, 
 heavy ear-rings, and she has several rings upon 
 her fingers and massive bracelets on her arms. 
 
 When relatives and friends are invited to dine 
 at their house, the baby’s mother never sits down 
 to a meal with them. She remains always in her 
 own apartment; but sometimes, when there is a 
 merry company in the guest-hall, you may hear a 
 rustling and a sound of hushed laughter, and so 
 be made aware of the fact that the lady of the 
 
A CHINESE LADY, 
 
I 
 
 . / 
 
 a child’s home and friends. 27 
 
 house and her attendants are having a sly peep at 
 what is going on; for it is easy to make small 
 holes in the paper screens, or to peer from behind 
 a curtain which shields the door. 
 
 The baby’s mother is quite unable to read or 
 write, and very wearily the days pass with her. 
 It takes a long time for her attendant to dress her 
 hair and fix it in its place with long pins and a 
 sort of glue. Then she adorns it with bright- 
 colored, sweet-scented flowers. Her face also has 
 to be powdered, and a touch of rouge put on here 
 and there. 
 
 By-and-by she will spend a little time at her 
 embroidery frame, or play with baby till she gets 
 tired even of that amusement. Afterwards she 
 takes a turn at smoking or card-playing, and so 
 the weary hours of the day slip by. 
 
 It is quite a relief when every few days she 
 has a call from one of the ancient dames who 
 make their living by flower-selling, fortune-tell- 
 ing, or vending numerous small wares. Others 
 come also who are employed as marriage-makers, 
 and go from one family to another trying to earn 
 a living by arranging matches between babies or 
 little children. But, whatever their profession, 
 they are always very welcome visitors, since, with 
 their lively gossip and news of the families of 
 their various clients, they bring a fresh breeze 
 from the outer world into the close, stifling atmos- 
 phere of the “ inner apartments.” 
 
28 
 
 home-life in china. 
 
 As I have said, the baby’s mother rarely goes 
 outside the door of her own house; but on one or 
 two occasions during the year she is allowed to 
 venture out in a sedan-chair, with curtains closely 
 drawn, carried on the shoulders of several coolies. 
 
 Once, in the early spring-time, she pays a 
 visit to the family graves. She journeys outside 
 the city walls, beyond the great plain dotted with 
 countless numbers of mounds, marked by no tree 
 or flower, but interspersed here and there by heavy 
 coffins bound round by coarse strips of matting. 
 Just on the borders of this city of the dead, which 
 her sad heathen faith brightens with no ray of 
 hope and peace, are the graves of the baby’s fore- 
 fathers for many generations. No better spot 
 could possibly have been chosen, according to the 
 geomancers who have been consulted about the 
 matter, for behind it rises a green hill, sheltering 
 the bones of the dead from chill northern blasts, 
 while the warm southern sun shines in front upon 
 the strangely-shaped granite slabs. With her own 
 hands she had prepared the dishes of various kinds 
 of food for an offering to the dead, but she stands 
 aside while the male portion of the family entreat 
 the spirits to come and partake of the feast pro- 
 vided for them, worshipping them meanwhile in 
 reverential attitudes with smoke of burning in- 
 cense and paper money. 
 
 At other times, especially if her baby is ill, 
 she pays a visit to some noted temple and there 
 
a child’s home and friends. 29 
 
 vows before the shrine of the Goddess of Mercy 
 or the idol called ‘‘Mother” that if they will but 
 protect her darling and restore him to health again 
 costly offerings shall be laid at their feet. 
 
 As for the baby’s father, his hair also is shaved 
 off his forehead, and he wears the rest of it twist- 
 1 ed into a heavy plait, which hangs down his back. 
 To make it look long and thick, the barber often 
 adds some false hair to it or some threads of black 
 silk. He wears a long robe of colored silk, and 
 in winter a sleevless wadded vest of satin. In 
 very cold weather he dresses in fur-lined robes. 
 On ordinary occasions his head is covered with a 
 skullcap of black silk, except when the weather 
 is warm, and then he wears no covering at all. 
 His official hat is made of felt, turned up all 
 round, and trimmed with dark fur. The button 
 or glass ball which tells the rank to which he has 
 attained is fastened on the top of it. These balls 
 are of various colors, and indicate the exact rank 
 of the wearer. The highest is of red coral ; oth- 
 ers are light red, light blue, dark blue, mother-of- 
 pearl, and the lowest of all is a gilt ball. His 
 shoes are made of satin, and have thick white 
 soles, instead of being bright with blacking. 
 
 Baby’s father is probably a scholar, and yet if 
 you began to question him you would be inclined 
 to consider him rather ignorant. He can quote 
 whole chapters of the Chinese classics, and tell 
 you in a moment the exact place in which any 
 
3 ° 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 passage occurs, at the same time giving you some 
 interpretation of it. But if you put him through 
 the simplest examination in geography, you would 
 find that the only clear idea he had upon the sub- 
 ject was that China was the largest and most im- 
 portant empire under the sun, and that whatever 
 other small countries there might be besides were 
 all tributary to it and inhabited by “outer barba- 
 rians. ’ ’ He is always congratulating himself upon 
 being born in the grand Celestial Empire, and 
 feels convinced that the people of all other na- 
 tions must be envious of his birthright. 
 
 As for the religion of the baby’s father, he has 
 little faith in the worship of idols, but he never 
 fails to burn paper money and incense before the 
 carved wooden tablets in which he believes the 
 spirits of his ancestors are dwelling. Not only 
 does he love his baby boy with the strong affec- 
 tion of a father, but all his hopes for future hap- 
 piness are resting on that little life. 
 
 If so terrible a misfortune as his son’s death 
 should overtake him, he believes when his turn 
 comes to enter the unseen world his untended 
 spirit will wander about those mysterious regions 
 hungry and naked, homeless and miserable ; for 
 only a living son, by constant acts of devotion 
 before the ancestral tablet and at the family 
 graves, can supply the wants of a father in the 
 spirit-land. 
 
 No wonder, then, that when the baby boy was 
 
A child’s home and friends. 31 
 
 ailing the proud father condescended to go beg- 
 ging from door to door in the city, asking each 
 family, to the number of one hundred, for a sin- 
 gle cash, a coin of which it takes twenty to make 
 a penny. His idea was that the prayers and good 
 wishes of each of these families would follow their 
 money, and thus secure the health and prosperity 
 of his child ; and he purchased with the coins 
 he collected a “hundred families lock,” which is 
 always worn round his little son’s neck. No won- 
 der, also, that when the baby was seriously ill he 
 walked through the city streets carrying the 
 child’s small garments at the end of a bamboo 
 pole, and crying out at intervals, ‘ ‘ Return, re- 
 turn,” for he believed that some evil spirit had 
 tempted the little one’s soul away and caused its 
 sickness. How true it is that in China the life 
 and future happiness of the parents are all bound 
 up in the life of their child ! 
 
 How different is the house in which the baby 
 lives from the homes we love ! It is of one story 
 only, and the rooms are ranged one behind each 
 other, with an open court between, called a t’ien 
 ching, or “heavenly well,” which is very pret- 
 tily decorated. In the centre you will see some 
 curious rock-work, and over or among it strange- 
 looking dwarf plants and shrubs are growing. 
 Here is a fir-tree no taller than a geranium, stunt- 
 ed and bound with fine wire till it looks the 
 queerest little dwarf imaginable. Close by the 
 
32 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 rock-work you will see little tanks in which gold 
 and silver fish are kept, and others in which the 
 broad leaves of the lotus, with its delicate pink 
 flowers, are growing. All around the court are 
 pretty earthenware stands upon which pots of 
 flowers are placed. Here are beautiful dwarf or- 
 ange-trees, the golden fruit gleaming out from 
 among the dark glossy leaves and fragrant buds. 
 There are also stately oleanders and brilliant 
 pomegranate buds, and many more besides. In 
 some quiet corner wistaria, jessamine, and climb- 
 ing Chinese roses grow luxuriantly ; and in the 
 autumn the sweet scent of the “Kwei-wha,” or 
 flower of the fragrant olive, is borne on every 
 breeze. 
 
 We have stopped in our description of the 
 house to talk about the garden, which would be 
 quite out of place if it were in England ; but in 
 China, as I said before, it is different, for houses 
 there are often built round the garden, instead of 
 the garden going round the house. 
 
 Passing on into the principal room of the man- 
 sion, which is called the “guest-hall,” we find it 
 furnished with a large oblong dais or couch, with 
 a low stand in the centre. It is placed near to the 
 wall of the apartment, just opposite the door. 
 Large illuminated scrolls are suspended on the 
 wall in pairs, having selected passages from the 
 Chinese classics written upon them. If there is 
 no hall set apart for the ancestral tablets, they are 
 
^LIiUMULL! 
 
 A CHINESE GENTLEMAN, 
 

A child’s home and friends. 35 
 
 usually found in this room. On either side we 
 see elaborately-carved chairs placed in pairs op- 
 posite to each other, with a tea-stand between 
 each pair. All Chinese rooms are furnished in 
 exactly the same fashion, and when a visitor en- 
 ters the house he knows exactly in what light you 
 regard him by the worth of the seat you press him 
 to take. The seat of honor is on the left hand of 
 the host. 
 
 There is no fireplace in the apartment, for the 
 Chinese have no stoves for heating rooms, though 
 in the northern parts of the empire a broad hol- 
 low bench of brick is erected and heated by flues. 
 Being without glass windows, even on a bright 
 day the room is dull; but when the handsome lan- 
 terns which are suspended from the ceiling are 
 lighted up it has a pretty effect. A side-door, 
 often screened by a curtain, leads into the apart- 
 ments of the women, which are always situated 
 at the back of the house. Chinese doors and win- 
 dows rarely fit very closely, and the only arrange- 
 ment the people have for keeping themselves 
 warm is to heap on jacket after jacket and vest 
 after vest, till they seem almost smothered with 
 clothing. The poor people pad their jackets with 
 cotton wool, and those who can afford it wear fur- 
 lined garments. They warm their hands and 
 feet with small hand and foot stoves, which look 
 like little brass baskets with grated covers, filled 
 with charcoal embers. The “sou-lou,” or hand- 
 
HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 stove, is very small and light, and is frequently 
 pushed up the large Chinese sleeves. 
 
 Going into the sleeping-rooms we find bed- 
 steads not unlike our own. There are, however, 
 no blankets or sheets, and a large wadded cover- 
 let, gay with bright chintz, forms both mattress 
 and covering. We see no soft feather pillows, 
 but in summer-time only a hard frame of bamboo, 
 which keeps the head cool. In winter a different 
 pillow is used, embroidered at the ends and cov- 
 ered with cloth; this also is very stiff and hard. 
 
 When we come to the commissariat of China 
 we shall find that even the food is very different 
 from ©ur own. When a Chinaman meets you he 
 does not ask after your health, but his greeting is, 
 “ Have you taken your rice?” and rice is the uni- 
 versal “staff of life” in South and Central China. 
 
 In the Chinese home knives and forks are never 
 seen upon the table, but only two chop-sticks, 
 about a foot long, made either of ivory or varnish- 
 ed wood. Chop-sticks is the name given to these 
 useful little articles by foreigners, but the Chinese 
 themselves call them kwai-tsz, or “quick lads.” 
 
 At meal-times each person has his own special 
 basin of rice, which he holds up very near to his 
 mouth; then taking the chop-sticks in his right 
 hand, he manages to empty his basin and be ready 
 for another in a very short space of time. Vege- 
 tables, fish, and meat are also cooked and placed 
 in separate basins in the centre of the table, and 
 
A SLEEPING APARTMENT. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A child’s home and friends. 39 
 
 when any one wishes for a relish to his rice, he 
 dips his chop-sticks into the common dish and se- 
 cures a morsel. The Chinese think our English 
 fashion of serving large joints of meat on the table 
 quite unworthy of a civilized nation. They say 
 they leave the work of carving and preparing the 
 food to the servants, but we keep our guests wait- 
 ing while we do it ourselves at table. 
 
 A Chinese feast frequently lasts for many 
 hours. The table is usually bare, no cloth of any 
 kind being spread upon it. Dessert, consisting 
 generally of dried fruits, nuts, etc. , is placed first 
 upon the festive board. One plate is considered 
 sufficient for each guest, however large the num- 
 ber of courses may be, and sometimes there are as 
 many as twenty-five different dishes. Birds’ -nest 
 soup, sea-slugs, or “ beche-de-mer,” sharks’ fins, 
 and ducks’ tongues are favorite dishes. Nearly 
 everything is stewed, and flavored with garlic or 
 oil, which make these dainties not very agreeable 
 to a European palate. Frequently, when foreign 
 guests have been invited, the cook is ordered to 
 flavor the dishes sparingly, in order to suit the 
 strange Western taste. Wine is served hot in 
 China, and poured from zinc or silver kettles into 
 the daintiest of small porcelain wine-cups. Tea 
 is always kept in the house ready for drinking, 
 and when a visitor calls a servant immediately 
 brings in a cup of the national beverage, which 
 is served without srmar or milk. 
 
 o 
 
 Home- Life iu Chiu*. ^ 
 
40 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FAMILIAR SCENES. 
 
 When for the first time a Chinese child goes 
 out of doors, and is carried in the arms or sits 
 with his legs round the neck of his attendant, it 
 is a very busy world he enters, and a strange one 
 also to Western eyes. As he passes along the 
 streets in most parts of China, he finds even the 
 widest and busiest in the city are narrower than 
 our English lanes; they have no sidewalks, and 
 are paved with irregular stone slabs, for it is con- 
 sidered unlucky to have them laid down evenly. 
 There are no open spaces or squares in the midst 
 of a Chinese city, but all the houses are packed 
 together in the smallest possible space. Being 
 built largely of wood, the frequent fires are apt to 
 destroy whole streets at a time. But the house- 
 holders begin to build again among the smoking 
 ashes, setting up stalls close by the ruins, and at- 
 tempting to carry on their business as best they 
 can under the circumstances. 
 
 Most Chinese cities are surrounded by strong 
 walls, with gates which are well defended; fre- 
 quently they are closed at sunset, and no exit or 
 entrance is permitted till daylight. A small guard 
 of soldiers is often posted at the gates for their de- 
 
CHINESE CITY WALLS. 
 
FAMILIAR SCENES. 
 
 43 
 
 fence. Chinese soldiers are strangely destitute of 
 that air of briskness and general vigor which is 
 so characteristic of our military men. Their uni- 
 form is usually of blue cotton, loose in shape, and 
 occasionally they have a jacket or vest of scarlet. 
 This garment is adorned with a white disk, bear- 
 ing characters which describe the regiment to 
 which they belong. 
 
 Turning back from the gate into the street, 
 we shall find it damp with the drippings from the 
 water-buckets which the coolies have been carry- 
 ing from the river since early morning. A pretty 
 vista of bright coloring meets our eyes, formed by 
 the signboards, which are not placed over the 
 doors only, as in England, but hang down per- 
 pendicularly from the projecting eaves. Many of 
 them are eight or ten feet long, and are nicely 
 varnished and inscribed with some high-flown 
 epithet which has been chosen by the owner in- 
 stead of his name. And so we meet with a furrier’s 
 shop bearing the title “Virtuous and Abundant,” 
 and a cloth store called “Celestial Advantage.” 
 An undertaker has chosen the title of “United 
 and Prosperous,” and a coal merchant calls his 
 premises by the high-sounding name of “Heaven- 
 ly Adornment.” In summer-time the streets are 
 shaded with matting, to protect the passers-by 
 from the fierce rays of the sun. 
 
 No carts or carriages are seen in Chinese streets, 
 and only an occasional horseman, riding in some 
 
44 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 mandarin’s procession. Sedan-chairs are in con- 
 stant use, varying in size and appearance from 
 the official’s roomy and elaborately-decked con- 
 veyance to the fragile bamboo erections which are 
 found at corners of the thoroughfares waiting to 
 be hired, as hansoms stand on the streets of our 
 cities. It seems wonderful that room can be 
 found for the chairs readily to pass and repass in 
 a Chinese street, but the coolies press on through 
 the thronging crowds, shouting at the top of their 
 voices, “Look out for your backs ! Look out for 
 your backs !” 
 
 Here are some coolies carrying baskets of rice 
 to the public granaries, while others are heavily 
 laden with buckets, full of water from the river 
 or lake. Step by step as they plod along they 
 drone out their monotonous carrying song, “ Hay 
 ho! High ho !” 
 
 Here is a man with his baskets filled with the 
 glossy brown pods which are used as soap by the 
 natives. Yonder comes a lantern-seller, with fifty 
 or more skeletons of lanterns at each end of his 
 long pole; it is wonderful to see the dexterity 
 with which he avoids mishaps, and manages with 
 his cumbersome burden to make his way through 
 the crowded streets. Now we are thrust to the 
 side of the road by an immense water-buffalo, 
 upon whose unwieldy form his keeper, in the 
 shape of a small boy, is mounted. Immediately 
 after we meet a pig in a large cylindrical bamboo 
 
CHINESE STREET BARBER. 
 
FAMILIAR SCENES. 
 
 47 
 
 basket, slung on a long pole and carried by two 
 bearers. The Chinese consider it more expedi- 
 tious to carry piggy to market than to attempt to 
 drive him through their narrow streets. Close 
 upon the heels of the pig and his bearers comes 
 the procession of some high mandarin. The great 
 man sits at ease in his richly-decorated sedan-chair. 
 He wears handsome robes of satin, and an expres- 
 sion of impassive superiority rests upon his solemn 
 countenance. At the head of the great man’s pro- 
 cession appear one or two couples of lictors, armed 
 with whips and wearing tall conical-shaped felt 
 hats. Behind them comes a string of small boys, 
 frequently the Arabs of the streets; they carry 
 large painted boards upon which the characters 
 “Stand aside,” and “Let there be respectful si- 
 lence,” appear. Last of all comes the characteris- 
 tic umbrella or many-flounced scarlet canopy, 
 which is held aloft above the great man’s head 
 whenever he alights from his sedan. 
 
 Notwithstanding the narrowness of Chinese 
 streets, the space is still further restricted by the 
 erection before the open shop-fronts of numerous 
 small stalls. Here is the establishment of a trav- 
 elling tinker; by his side is the stand of a wander- 
 ing physician. Opposite to them we see sitting at 
 a small table the money-changer, with his strings 
 of cash, his scales, and broken pieces of silver. By 
 his side sit the spectacle-mender, the migratory 
 barber, and the travelling cook. 
 
43 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 Let us stop for a moment at this itinerant cook- 
 shop, and take a look at some of the viands which 
 are pressed upon us. We are not likely to find 
 the puppies, snails, and kittens of which we have 
 perhaps heard, but here are sausage-balls flavored 
 with garlic, minced beef mixed with appetizing 
 celery, delicate slices of fried fish, dumplings of 
 fat pork flavored with sugar, and griddle-cakes 
 fried a beautiful gold color. No; wonder that with 
 such a display of delicacies these stalls are liberal- 
 ly patronized, and constantly surrounded by groups 
 of men taking their meal in this expeditious fash- 
 ion. 
 
 Passing by the barber, who drives a brisk trade, 
 since most Chinamen have their heads shaved 
 every few days, we will spend a few minutes at 
 the stall of the well-patronized fortune-teller. 
 They profess to be able to predict the future in 
 various ways, by dissection of the written charac- 
 ter, by tortoises, and by birds. 
 
 A young man approaches with an anxious look 
 upon his countenance, and informs the diviner 
 that he purposes leaving home for a season, and 
 would like to know if his journey will be pros- 
 perous or not. ( ‘ Going from home, ’ ’ says the 
 fortune-teller, as he calls from his cage the wisest 
 and most old-fashioned of birds, tempting him out 
 with a grain of rice. Then he shuffles a pack of 
 cards containing answers to imaginary questions, 
 and birdie is directed to pick one out. He does 
 
FAMILIAR SCENES. 
 
 49 
 
 so, and the fortune-teller reads the answer, to the 
 effect that “The journey will not be prosperous. 
 You will lose money by it. Stay at home for a 
 little while till a more favorable opportunity.” 
 
 But what is this string of blind men following 
 in single file, holding by each other’s garments? 
 They are the blind beggars going on their rounds. 
 They go from shop to shop, each tradesman giving 
 them a small sum, except in cases where the house- 
 holders pay them an annual subscription and are 
 thus relieved of their calls altogether. 
 
 Here are some more beggars, for they are a 
 numerous class in China. They sit on the bare 
 earth, and sometimes have a heart-rending account 
 of their difficulties written on the pavement before 
 them or painted on a board. They seem to be in 
 very distressing circumstances, and as they entreat 
 the “honorable passer-by” to spare them a single 
 cash they knock their foreheads violently against 
 the hard stones of the footpath. Frequently we 
 observe that they have exercised considerable 
 forethought, since their heads are protected by a 
 thick leather pad, upon which the force of their 
 violent “ko-tow” or head-knocking is spent. 
 
 Here comes a beggar of another kind; it is a 
 mendicant priest. He wears a loose yellow robe, 
 his head is completely shaved, and no queue of 
 braided hair hangs down his back. Around his 
 waist is fastened a wooden drum, which he taps 
 as he walks along. This curious instrument is 
 
50 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 used in the temples as an accompaniment to the 
 prayers of the priests; the sound it emits when 
 struck is peculiarly dull and hollow. These men- 
 dicant priests are usually chosen from among the 
 rest on account of their superior sanctity. They 
 carry a small wallet strapped upon the back, to re- 
 ceive the contributions of the faithful, who are 
 taught that he who helps a priest contributes to 
 his own advancement in the future world. 
 
 Many of the shop-fronts are gay with flowers, 
 which are planted in elegant flower-pots brought 
 from the far-famed potteries of Chin-teh-tsin, on 
 the Poyang Lake. The Chinese are fond of flow- 
 ers, and the florist drives a good trade. See him 
 as he approaches with his shallow bamboo bas- 
 kets, filled with fine plants which it has been his 
 aim through careful cultivation to induce to bear 
 blossoms of the largest size possible. In the early 
 spring he has the fragrant flowers of the la-mei 
 and the delicate pink blossoms of the almond. 
 Later on there are brilliant azaleas, roses, pinks, 
 and peonies, pomegranates and water-lilies; and 
 with the cool breezes of early autumn come the 
 gorgeous coxcombs of stately height with gigan- 
 tic flowers. The delicate, many-tinted chrysan- 
 themums are the pride of Chinese gardeners, with 
 the beautiful blossoms of the passion-flower and 
 the aster. Then the faint, sweet scent of the 
 kwei-wha, or fragrant olive, is wafted on every 
 breeze, and nature’s incense seems for a time 
 
FAMILIAR SCENES. 5 1 
 
 almost to overpower the vile odors which rise 
 from the crowded streets of every Chinese city. 
 
 Our friend the florist is usually paid a certain 
 annual sum by wealthy householders, and en- 
 gages in return to keep their courtyards and gar- 
 dens gay with flowers the whole year round, find- 
 ing even in the dull winter days u things of beau- 
 ty,” in the shape of the fragrant narcissus and 
 the delicate camellia, to adorn these Chinese 
 homes. 
 
 I have said there are no squares in most Chi- 
 nese cities, the nearest approach to them being 
 the open spaces sometimes seen in front of tem- 
 ples or the courtyards of yamens, or magistrates’ 
 offices. The latter are frequently adorned with 
 extraordinary stone figures of animals which the 
 Chinese call lions. They are objects of awe to all 
 Chinese children, who hear weird stories of how 
 the lions are only stone lions in the day-time, but 
 at night they come to life and wander through the 
 streets of the city. 
 
 We have been wandering for some time 
 through the busy thoroughfares of a Chinese 
 town, and now let us enter one of the shops and 
 try to do a little business with the comfortable- 
 looking tradesman who sits at his ease at the 
 other side of the counter and is probably very 
 leisurely smoking his pipe. We will suppose that 
 we have entered a store stocked with the far- 
 famed earthenware of the Celestial Empire. Here 
 
52 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 are magnificent vases, five feet high, adorned with 
 groups of figures painted in delicate colors; close by 
 are barrel-shaped stands for flower-pots gavly orna- 
 mented, and all kinds of household utensils. Here 
 are wine-pots, delicate teacups, and a large number 
 of articles which have been produced to supply the 
 demand from foreign countries, such as tea-sets of 
 English fashion, with handles to the cups, and 
 saucers ; little teapots, which are rarely used by 
 the natives, and fanciful ornaments of all shapes 
 and sizes. The shopkeeper finds us the article 
 for which we are seeking, and calmly asks us 
 about twice the sum which we know it to be 
 worth. We promptly reply that it is far too dear, 
 and he slightly reduces the price. This sort of 
 bargaining continues for a considerable time, and 
 ends by our eventually paying him half the price 
 he first asked us — to his intense satisfaction, since 
 he has profited considerably by his dealings with 
 the outer barbarian, who has doubtless given him 
 a far larger sum for his wares than he would re- 
 ceive from one of his own countrymen. Before 
 we leave — indeed in the midst of our bargain- 
 ing — a cup of tea has been presented to us and a 
 pipe pressed upon our notice. 
 
 But what is the business of the man who is 
 approaching us, carrying two large deep bamboo 
 baskets, with a tiny flag attached to one of them 
 bearing the legend, “Respect printed paper”? 
 As he proceeds, a door here and there opens, and 
 
FAMILIAR SCENES. 
 
 53 
 
 a man-servant comes out with a waste-basket, 
 emptying its contents into the large basket car- 
 ried by the collector of scraps. This man is em- 
 ployed by some Chinese benevolent society to go 
 round and collect even the smallest pieces of 
 printed paper, so that they may be carried to 
 some temple courtyard and destroyed by fire in a 
 furnace set apart for the purpose, for the kitchen 
 stove would be considered too secular a place for 
 performing such a sacred duty. This is one of 
 the works of merit which the Chinese believe 
 accumulate for them a sort of balance, to be set 
 against the sins they have committed when they 
 are judged by the king of the infernal regions at 
 the end of life. 
 
 Probably few things have contributed so much 
 to the idea that foreigners are uncivilized barba- 
 rians as our light regard for our own printed or 
 written paper. They see us using it in all sorts 
 of ignominious ways. We wrap parcels in it and 
 frequently tread it carelessly under foot; conse- 
 quently the Chinese not unnaturally conclude 
 that we can have nothing worthy the name of a 
 language or literature, or we should not treat the 
 printed page in so disrespectful a manner. 
 
 Now we are passing a fine tea-shop, the great 
 rendezvous of all Chinamen. There they sit in 
 large numbers, discussing the topics of the day, 
 while the national beverage is freely imbibed. 
 Melon-seeds and peanuts are also provided at these 
 
54 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 establishments, and are taken with the tea. A 
 Chinaman will pass the greater part of a day in 
 one of these places of public resort, spending prob- 
 ably only a penny. 
 
 Before we leave these crowded streets let us 
 look at some of the names which they bear. 
 Many of them are very high-sounding, and this 
 is most frequently the case when the locality is 
 low and of bad repute. First we have the street 
 of Perpetual Comfort, and near by is the Lane of 
 Filial Piety and the Court of Eternal Harmon v. 
 Then there is the lane of the Cilia Family, New 
 Street, Horse-tail Lane, Thread-and-Needle Al- 
 ley, and the street of Heavenly Treasures. 
 
 As we leave the city we pass through two 
 heavy stone gateways; outside them the heads of 
 criminals are frequently suspended in small bam- 
 boo cages — a ghastly sight which seems to be lit- 
 tle heeded by the passers-by, although they are 
 placed there to awaken terror in the hearts of evil- 
 doers. 
 
 Beneath the gateways we shall see various no- 
 tices and advertisements pasted up. Announce- 
 ments of approaching religious festivals, or the 
 ordination sendees of some Buddhist priests, are 
 there, advertisements to push the sale of kero- 
 sene oil, anti-opium pills, and other quack medi- 
 cines, and notices of rewards offered for the dis- 
 covery of persons who are missing from their 
 homes. 
 
FAMILIAR SCENES. 
 
 55 
 
 So, with much that is totally different, we find 
 many points of similarity between the customs and 
 sights of this ancient empire and our own towns, 
 and most probably return from our wanderings 
 with the reflection that human nature is pretty 
 much the same the whole world over. 
 
56 
 
 IIOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CHINESE BOYS AT SCHOOL. 
 
 When a Chinese boy reaches his sixth birth- 
 day it is considered quite time he should be sent 
 to school. 
 
 The occasion is looked upon as one of such 
 importance that a fortune-teller is usually con- 
 sulted, and on a lucky day, fixed upon by the 
 wise man, the little Chinaman makes his first 
 appearance at school. Let 11s follow him when, 
 accompanied by his father, he makes his way to 
 the schoolhouse. He looks very fresh and tidy, 
 his hair has been neatly shaved from his forehead, 
 and the rest of it is plaited up into a long black 
 queue, a pien-tsz he calls it, which hangs down 
 behind. When any of his schoolfellows want to 
 torment him they will no doubt tie his pigtail to 
 the same appendage on another boy’s head, which 
 will be very uncomfortable for them both. 
 
 If it is summer-time our young friend wears 
 nothing upon his head, and is only clothed in a 
 jacket or vest of loose cotton or grass-cloth, with 
 small baggy trousers of the same material. But 
 if the weather is cold he will no doubt be wearing 
 half a dozen vests and coats, one above another, 
 and some of them will be padded with cotton- 
 
CHINESE BOYS’ SCHOOL. 
 

 
 
 
Chinese; boys at schooe. 59 
 
 wool. The first thing that strikes you, as you 
 look at him, is how very difficult he must find it 
 to make any use of his arms. Upon his head he 
 wears a small skullcap of black or blue silk, with 
 a little scarlet twist at the top, and very likely a 
 thick tassel of silken threads falling down behind. 
 His shoes have very thick white soles, and very 
 often the toes are embroidered by his proud mo- 
 ther with fanciful little designs of flowers or but- 
 terflies. Sometimes he wears in his girdle a little 
 purse, which has also been embroidered by his 
 mother, but it will not hold many of the copper 
 coins with a hole through the centre, which we 
 call ‘ c cash. ’ ’ If he is ever rich enough to have 
 saved any number of these coins, he strings them 
 on a wisp of straw or piece of string, making a 
 firm knot at each end to keep them safe. 
 
 If he does not possess a purse, he is at no loss 
 for a receptacle for his boyish treasures, since 
 his sleeves are so large and long that they 
 form a capital hiding-place. I11 China little 
 books are not called pocket editions, but sleeve 
 editions; a man does not pocket anything, but he 
 “sleeves” it. 
 
 Having reached the schoolhouse, our boy- 
 friend enters, carrying in his hand some small 
 present for the grave-looking elderly person who 
 is to be his teacher, and his first act is to do rev- 
 erence and burn incense before the tablet which 
 has the name of the sage Confucius written upon 
 
6o 
 
 HOME-BIKE IN CHINA. 
 
 it. The furniture of the room consists of a num- 
 ber of little desks or tables, with high stools be- 
 hind them, which are frequently provided by the 
 parents. Before the master stands a larger table, 
 and upon it are lying not only books and papers, 
 but the indispensable pipe. Upon each little 
 desk you will see, not pens and ink such as we 
 use, but ink-stones, upon which the boys rub the 
 cake of Indian, or rather Chinese, ink, dipping 
 it in a little water. 
 
 For his pen he has a brush, not unlike our 
 large paint-brushes of camel’s hair. He holds it 
 perpendicularly in his hand, pointing to the ceil- 
 ing, as he traces on the thin, soft paper the queer- 
 looking characters on his copy slips. 
 
 English boys would doubtless consider Chinese 
 lessons extremely dry and uninteresting, since 
 several years have to be spent in learning to re- 
 peat the mere sounds and write the forms of the 
 characters or picture-words, of the meaning of 
 which they understand little more than a parrot. 
 
 There is no alphabet of the Chinese language, 
 but two hundred and fourteen radicals or root 
 words, which enter into the formation of all the 
 other characters. The words are all of one syl- 
 lable, and are written down one beneath the other 
 in columns, instead of across the page, and the 
 beginning of their books is the end of ours. 
 
 The language of China is so ancient that most 
 people think it goes back to a time not long after 
 
CHINESE BOYS AT SCHOOL. 
 
 6l 
 
 the Deluge, and it is the oldest language now 
 spoken in the world. The Chinese say that their 
 written words or characters were originally hiero- 
 glyphics, or rough pictures of the objects of which 
 they desired to speak. 
 
 To make my meaning clearer, I will write 
 down a few of the pictures drawn by the ancient 
 Chinese, and the names attached to them, and 
 beneath these you will see the shape of the char- 
 acters as they are now written: 
 
 Hieroglyph: 
 Present character : 
 
 O A 
 
 (3 n 
 
 Uf 
 
 Sun Moon Child Hill Horse 
 It was soon found quite impossible to express 
 the requirements of a people in a language neces- 
 sarily so limited as one made up of picture-signs 
 alone. Gradually the scholars began to use more 
 complicated symbols, and frequently a picture- 
 word was used in combination with some other 
 symbol to make the meaning plain: 
 
 And so the sun Q above the horizon — sig- 
 nified morning, and is now written thus JEJ. 
 
 A tree is 7k; a couple of these were placed 
 together, and now stand for forest 
 
 A mouth pj in a door conveys the idea of 
 asking, thus ff|J. 
 
 Not only is the Chinese language almost 
 unique as regards the formation of its written 
 characters, but the vast number of words which 
 
 4 
 
62 
 
 HOME-UFK IN CHINA. 
 
 can be formed from the same radical or root is 
 extraordinary. The number of words in the lan- 
 guage amounts to over forty thousand, but only a 
 very small proportion of these are known to any 
 but the literati of the empire. 
 
 The difficulty of the spoken language arises 
 from the various tones, the meaning of a word 
 varying according to the intonation of the voice, 
 one character sometimes having as many as fifteen 
 different significations. 
 
 To give an example of this, the word che , pro- 
 nounced in exactly the same tone of voice, and 
 without an aspirate, has eighteen different mean- 
 ings. Among other things, it stands for our 
 English nouns — famine, fowl, impediment, foot- 
 print, foundation, sieve, and small table, and is 
 also used in expressing each and all of the follow- 
 ing actions: to wind silk, to ridicule, to crowd, 
 to draw water, to strike, and to investigate. 
 
 The same word pronounced in exactly the 
 same tone, but with an aspirate, has as many as 
 ten different meanings. Among others, it stands 
 for whispers, grief, cold, seven, wife, and for the 
 verbs to insult, to roost, to varnish, and to de- 
 ceive. 
 
 Many absurd blunders are constantly made by 
 foreign students of the Chinese language; and we 
 hear a man talking about his wives when he 
 means to speak of his fowls; calling for a cake, 
 and having a bottle brought to him; and making 
 
CHINESE BOYS AT SCHOOL. 63 
 
 allusion to liis nose when he wishes to talk about 
 leather. In each of these cases the difference is 
 merely the sounding or dropping of an aspirate. 
 
 Then we hear of a bewildered servant being 
 asked to serve his master with a soldier instead of 
 a biscuit; and a gentleman imagining that he is 
 calling for his hat, when all the time he is asking 
 for the cat; and making remarks about a field 
 which can only apply to heaven. 
 
 These are some of the pitfalls into which the 
 outer barbarian falls when making his first at- 
 tempts at conversation in the language of the 
 Flowery Land. No wonder that he occasionally 
 envies the gift of speech possessed by the chatter- 
 ing little Celestials playing in the streets ! 
 
 Having spoken of the difficulties of the lan- 
 guage our young Chinaman has to speak and 
 write, let us look over his shoulder and see what 
 books he is studying. The first of all is the 
 u San-Tsz-King,” or u Trim etrical Classic, ” be- 
 cause, to make it more easily remembered, it is 
 written in lines of three words each. The teach- 
 er repeats the first few lines, and the scholars, 
 holding their books in their hands and swinging 
 their small bodies backwards and forwards, follow 
 his pronunciation of the words. They then re- 
 turn to their seats and commit the words to mem- 
 ory. In order to be sure each small boy is attend- 
 ing to his lessons, he is expected to shout out the 
 passage he is learning at the top of his voice. 
 
HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 64 
 
 The continual din caused by this arrangement 
 can be better imagined than described; and when 
 you pass a schoolhouse in China you are more 
 likely to suspect the existence of Bedlam than of 
 a place of learning. 
 
 The first sentence in the Chinese boys’ primer 
 runs as follows: “Men at their birth are by na- 
 ture radically good.” The importance of study 
 is then enlarged upon, and a sentence occurs to 
 the effect that ‘ ‘ To educate without severity shows 
 a teacher’s indolence.” The sight of the bamboo 
 rod, which is found in every schoolroom close to 
 the master’s hand, and in very constant use, is a 
 proof that this maxim of the sage of old com- 
 mends itself to the teachers of the present day. 
 Chinese boys then go on to learn that there are 
 three great powers: heaven, earth, and man; that 
 there are three lights: the sun, moon, and stars. 
 They are further informed that rice, millet, pulse, 
 wheat, rye, and barley are the six kinds of grain 
 on which men subsist. Various other matters of 
 a similar kind are touched upon, followed by a 
 summary of Chinese history. Afterwards the ex- 
 ample of sages and prodigies of past ages is com- 
 mended to the notice of the youthful pupils. I 
 will mention a few of these eminent examples of 
 devotion to literature in olden times. 
 
 One celebrated student, Sun King by name, 
 lived more than 2,000 years ago, when the dynas- 
 ty of Chau held sway in China. So enthusiastic 
 
I 
 
 CHINESE BOYS AT SCHOOL. 65 
 
 was his devotion to study that he constantly shut 
 himself up in his private apartments, and, lest he 
 should be overcome by drowsiness, he fastened 
 the hair of his head by a cord to a beam in the 
 roof. 
 
 Another eminent scholar, whose family was 
 poor, studied by the light from a number of glow- 
 worms he had collected. And yet another conned 
 his task by the light reflected from the snow. One 
 committed his lesson to memory while bending 
 beneath the weight of a load of faggots he carried 
 on his back; and yet another, whose thirst for 
 knowledge could be controlled by no difficulties, 
 fastened his book to the horns of one of the cows 
 he was tending. 
 
 One “pattern of industry” took up his abode 
 in the fastnesses of a celebrated mountain to study 
 for his first degree. It was his custom to cast all 
 family letters aside unopened when he had ascer- 
 tained that the characters signifying peace and 
 health appeared upon the cover. His motive in 
 so doing was to keep his mind free from all dis- 
 traction of outside matters. A boy at the age of 
 seven is described as being in all his conduct 
 most dignified and decorous. He always used a 
 round piece of wood for his pillow so that he 
 could awake easily and apply himself diligently 
 to his studies. A second lad, who lived before 
 the Christian era, for all these wonderful speci- 
 mens of devotion to literature seem to have flour- 
 
66 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 ished in far-distant ages, was, although very poor, 
 most anxious to become a scholar. He hit upon 
 the device of boring a hole through the partition 
 of his room to the house of his next-door neigh- 
 bor. By the faint light from his friend’s lamp, 
 which struggled through the chink he had made, 
 he pored over his books and became ultimately 
 famous. At the age of seven Wang Yu-ching 
 could compose remarkable literary essays. He 
 was the prottg& of a certain assistant prefect, who 
 was charmed with his singular talents. One day 
 this gentleman was dining w T ith a friend, and the 
 common Chinese entertainment of suggesting the 
 first line of an impromptu stanza was introduced, 
 the guests being invited to match the line. It 
 w r as as follows: “The parrot, though it talks, can- 
 not compare with the phoenix.” None of the 
 visitors were equal to the task, but upon return- 
 ing home the assistant prefect’s little friend im- 
 mediately suggested the admirable line, “The 
 spider, though skilful, cannot compare with the 
 silk- worm.” 
 
 Chinese boys know something of arithmetic 
 and calculate very rapidly; but they do this with 
 their little “abacus,” or counting-board. 
 
 Several other books are studied, and the clas- 
 sic of “ Filial Piety ” is largely used as a reading 
 book, and is more common in China than any 
 “Boy’s Own Paper” in England. Some of the 
 stories it contains give such graphic glimpses of 
 
CHINESE BOYS AT SCHOOL. 67 
 
 Chinese life and character that I cannot do better 
 than relate a few of them for your amusement. 
 
 mang tsung and the bamboo shoots. 
 
 In days of old, during the dynasty of Chin, 
 there lived a lad who was called Mang Tsung. 
 While still very young he had the misfortune to 
 lose his father. With a filial heart he constantly 
 did reverence before the carved tablet within 
 which dwelt the spirit of his departed sire. More 
 than this, he devoted himself to the care of his 
 widowed mother, serving her with unwearying 
 devotion and seeking to supply her every want. 
 Now it happened one day, in the middle of win- 
 ter, when the land was covered with a thin man- 
 tle of snow, and trees were bare of leaves, that 
 Mang’s mother fell ill and would eat no food. 
 Wearily she murmured, “ If I could but have a 
 dish of the bamboo shoots which are found in the 
 bright spring-time, I would eat of them and be 
 restored to strength again. ’ ’ 
 
 o o 
 
 His mother’s words pierced poor Mang Tsung’ s 
 tender heart. He desired that her every wish 
 should be gratified; but how could the most dili- 
 gent seeker find young bamboo shoots in the 
 depth of winter ? With a heavy heart the lad 
 crept away from his old mother’s side and went 
 out into the open street. He wandered along, 
 scarce knowing whither he went, till he came to 
 the bamboo grove in the shadow of an ancient 
 
63 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 temple. Falling full length upon the bare, frozen 
 earth, he clasped his arms around the shining, 
 glossy stems of the graceful bamboos, watering 
 the ground meanwhile with his fast-falling tears, 
 when, lo ! the bare, wintry earth around the roots 
 became loosened and was pierced by the tender 
 white shoots of the young bamboos. Joyfully 
 Mang cut them down, and, hurrying home, 
 cooked and presented the longed-for dainty to his 
 sick mother. 
 
 Eagerly she partook of the dish procured for 
 her by the devotion of her son, and before she had 
 finished the repast her strength returned and she 
 was restored to health again. And so influenced 
 were heaven and earth by the pious conduct of 
 this filial son that ever since the bamboos have 
 continued to put forth their shoots in the dull 
 days of winter, instead of waiting for the awaken- 
 ing and vivifying influences of the spring. 
 
 LAO LAI-TSZ; OR, THE FILIAL SON. 
 
 Long, long ago, at the time when the kings 
 of the Chow dynasty ruled in China, 3,000 years 
 since, there lived a man whose name was Lao 
 Lai-tsz. He had attained to the age of 70, but 
 since his venerable parents were still alive, he 
 always declared that he was not old, and refused 
 to be addressed by the title “Venerable” or “An- 
 cient.” His one desire in life seemed to be to 
 make his beloved relatives forgetful of the flight 
 
CHINESE BOYS AT SCHOOL- 69 
 
 of time, and to fill their hearts with mirth and 
 gladness. He provided for them the daintiest of 
 dishes, and served them day and night with un- 
 wearying devotion. Very often he would dress 
 himself in a coat of many colors, just as if he 
 were once more a child. Then he would dance 
 and play before the old people, holding in his 
 hands the toys of his infancy. Now and then he 
 would go to the well and bring back a pail of 
 clear water. Entering the guest-room, he would 
 stumble like a child upon the threshold and, fall- 
 ing upon the floor, pretend to cry piteously. 
 Then running up to his old parents’ side, he 
 would beg to be comforted by them as in the 
 days of his childhood. All this was done by Lao 
 Lai-tsz with the noble object of gratifying and 
 amusing his venerable relatives, and making 
 them forget, for a time at least, their great age 
 and imagine that they were once more the youth- 
 ful parents of a little child. 
 
 THE REWARD OF KOH KU. 
 
 In the time of the dynasty of Han there lived 
 a man whose name was Koh Kii. His aged mo- 
 ther was sheltered beneath his roof, and he and 
 his wife were the parents of a fine boy three years 
 of age. Very happily they lived together, till ad- 
 versity like a dark cloud brooded over the little 
 family, and the father’s labor could barely main- 
 tain them. Day by day the ancient dame shared 
 
70 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 with her little grandson her scanty meal. The 
 cruel hand of famine rested upon them; their fa- 
 ces grew thin and their strength failed. Then 
 one day Koh Kii called to his wife to bring out 
 the child and follow him. Shouldering his spade, 
 he hastened on beyond the bamboo fence which 
 bounded their small homestead, and, coming to a 
 standstill, he addressed his wife in the following 
 words: U I have, alas! become so poor as to be 
 unable to support my mother, and the child is 
 constantly sharing the small portion of its grand- 
 mother, while both are growing weaker before 
 our eyes. Another child may possibly be born to 
 us, but a mother once dead can never return 
 again. Let us bury the child, so that we may 
 have sufficient for the maintenance of my mo- 
 ther.” 
 
 The terrified wife was silent with fear ; she 
 dared not dispute her husband’s will, but held the 
 little one pressed closely to her bosom while the 
 husband dug the grave of his living child. Sud- 
 denly she heard a dull tinkling sound as the spade 
 struck against some hard substance. It was fol- 
 lowed by an exclamation of joy, and she soon saw 
 her husband lifting some object out of the half- 
 dug grave. It was a pot of gold, and bore the 
 following inscription: “Heaven bestows this 
 
 treasure upon the dutiful son, Koh Kii. The 
 magistrates must not claim it, neither must his 
 neighbors attempt to take it from him.” 
 
CHINESE BOYS AT SCHOOL. 
 
 7 1 
 
 In such a signal manner did Heaven reward 
 the filial son who valued so lightly the life of his 
 child in comparison with the well-being of his 
 aged mother. 
 
 THE IMAGES THAT WEPT. 
 
 Ting L,an was a man who lived in the days of 
 the Han dynasty. His parents both died while he 
 was still an infant, so that he was unable to repay 
 them in the smallest degree for all their love and 
 care. He was always longing to discover some 
 way in which he could make his departed parents 
 conscious of his deep devotion. One day he was 
 seized with an inspiration, and taking up a piece 
 of fragrant wood, he carved out of it the figures of 
 his deceased parents, and henceforth tried to sat- 
 isfy his loving heart by constantly watching and 
 tending them as if they were indeed the forms of 
 his beloved relatives. 
 
 Now it happened that Ting Lan’s wife was a 
 woman who had little sympathy with him in his 
 filial devotion; in fact, she often made fun of him, 
 refusing to do reverence before the images or to 
 take her share in waiting upon them. At last a 
 day came when Ting Lan was absent from home, 
 and it occurred to his wife that she would amuse 
 herself by pricking the wooden hands of the im- 
 ages with her needle; when, behold, drops of blood 
 were seen to flow from the scars she had made, 
 and soon after, upon the return of her husband, 
 
72 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 he discovered that tears were falling from their 
 eyes. He investigated the cause of their grief, 
 and upon discovering it this filial son divorced his 
 irreverent wife, sending her away from his home 
 for ever. 
 
 THE STORY OF WANG LIANG. 
 
 In the far-away time of the dynasty of Chin 
 there lived a boy whose name was Wang Liang. 
 When he was very young he had the misfortune 
 to lose his mother. His father soon afterwards 
 married a woman whose name was Chu. This 
 new wife was of a scolding and unamiable dispo- 
 sition, and she took a violent dislike to her small 
 stepson. Daily and hourly she had some fault to 
 find with him, and was always complaining of 
 him to his father. Wang Liang felt this to be the 
 unkindest cut of all, since even his father’s appro- 
 val was no longer his. At length a day came 
 when the sky was dull and leaden, while the 
 streets and roofs of the houses were white with 
 fallen snow. Not only were the little icicles 
 hanging from the curled eaves of the houses, but 
 pond and lake and river were alike covered with 
 a thick sheet of ice. Mrs. Wang had enlivened 
 the dull hours of the short winter’s day with 
 ceaseless complaints, till at last, throwing herself 
 down on her stiff-backed chair, and warming her 
 arms with a small hand-stove which was hidden 
 away in her capacious sleeves, she exclaimed, 
 
CHINESE BOYS AT SCHOOL. 73 
 
 ‘‘Would that I had a dish of carp fresh from the 
 lake !” 
 
 Now that was an extremely foolish desire for 
 Mrs. Wang to give expression to, since, with 
 every piece of water for miles around covered 
 with ice, how was it possible for any one to ob- 
 tain fresh fish? But her stepson, who had listened 
 silently to her exclamation, crept quietly out of 
 the room, and slipping on his bright-colored wind- 
 cap and thrusting his small hands up into his long 
 sleeves, he hurried along to the river-side. 
 
 It stretched away before him in the silent 
 moonlight, a plain of ice dusted with powdery 
 snow. 
 
 Hastily he cast aside his garments till he was 
 all exposed to the keen blast of the wild winter 
 wind. Then he threw himself down on the un- 
 yielding ice in the hope that the warmth from his 
 small shivering body would melt it away beneath 
 him. Upon such filial devotion as this Heaven 
 will always smile, and the thick sheet of ice was 
 made to melt away beneath the dutiful lad, and 
 two fine carp leaped out from the dark-flowing 
 stream. They were joyfully seized by the lad’s 
 ready hand, and hastily attiring himself he made 
 his way to his father’s house. 
 
 Kneeling at the feet of his unamiable step- 
 mother, while he knocked his head to the ground, 
 he presented her with the fish for which she had 
 apparently so vainly longed. 
 
74 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 The little book from which these stories are 
 extracted is known by the title of the “Twenty- 
 four Examples of Filial Piety.” Each story is 
 illustrated with a wood-cut representing the hero 
 engaged in performing his special act of filial 
 piety. There is little doubt that the incidents 
 recorded in this small volume, and accepted by 
 the Chinese as historical facts, have been in no 
 small decree influential in forming the characters 
 
 o o 
 
 of China’s rising generation. A favorite Chinese 
 proverb teaches that “Of the hundred virtues the 
 chief is filial piety,” and no other duty is so care- 
 fully and constantly instilled into the children’s 
 minds as this. 
 
CHINESE BOYS AT PEAY. 
 
 75 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CHINESE BOYS AT PEAY. 
 
 But what about the life of these little China- 
 men and Chinawomen when school-work is over 
 and lessons done? Surely, though they are 
 dressed in clothing of the same pattern as their 
 grandfathers and grandmothers, and have such 
 wonderful memories for their extremely dry and 
 uninteresting lessons, they must occasionally find 
 time for a romp or game of some sort, or they 
 would not be boys and girls at all. This is per- 
 fectly true; and though the Chinese boys have no 
 cricket or football, no marbles or hockey, and un- 
 derstand nothing of paper-chases and boating, 
 they are not without some amusements; and even 
 if they are a trifle more old-fashioned and sober 
 than our children, yet they enjoy their games 
 quite as heartily. 
 
 Kite-flying is the great delight of Chinese 
 boys, though not of boys alone, but also of their 
 fathers and grandfathers. And what famous kites 
 they have too ! Some are in the form of beautiful 
 birds or butterflies, with wings cleaving the air; 
 others are in the shape of men or various animals, 
 dragons, and centipedes. Occasionally a tiny pa- 
 per lantern is fastened to the tail of a kite, and 
 
76 
 
 HOME-LIFE in china. 
 
 being lighted it has a very pretty effect as it rises, 
 shining like a star in the twilight. Sometimes a 
 number of bird-kites are fastened by short lines to 
 the principal cord, and when flying in the air look 
 like a flight of birds clustering round one common 
 centre. 
 
 The great day for the commencement of kite- 
 flying is the ninth of the ninth moon ; and the 
 selection of this particular day has, like most 
 things in China, a superstitious origin. “Once 
 upon a time,” they say, “ in the far-away ages of 
 the past, a man was warned that on a certain day 
 a great calamity would befall him and his. When 
 the time came round the man, with every member 
 of his household, decided to leave home and spend 
 the day in the country among the hills. Upon 
 returning at nightfall he found that all his domes- 
 tic animals were dead. The day was the ninth of 
 the ninth month; and ever since people have been 
 careful to absent themselves from home on that 
 singularly inauspicious day; and in order to enli- 
 ven the time they amuse themselves by flying 
 kites.” 
 
 Then there are the lanterns, of all sizes and 
 shapes, which are the pride of the first month of 
 the year. Gay indeed are the streets of a Chinese 
 city from the tenth to the fifteenth of the first 
 moon; for though most of the shops are closed and 
 all other business suspended for nearly a fortnight, 
 the lantern-sellers do a brisk trade. Chinese in- 
 
CHINESE BOYS AT PEAY. 
 
 77 
 
 genuity is taxed to find new shapes for these lan- 
 terns. The salesmen, with their wares attached 
 to long bamboo poles, take up their positions out- 
 side the closed shop-fronts, and the streets are so 
 crowded with spectators and buyers that it is 
 very difficult to make one’s way along. 
 
 Most of the lanterns are made of bright-colored 
 paper over a light bamboo framework. Some 
 are made in the shape of a ball fixed to the end of 
 a stick, others are like rabbits, horses, or fowls, and 
 are mounted on wheels. Some are in the form 
 of shrimps, crabs, or beetles ; others are representa- 
 tions of favorite flowers, such as the lotus and 
 camellia. A large number are made of gauze or 
 silk, and have mythological or historical scenes 
 painted upon them. But the most expensive of 
 all contain wheels and fine wires, which are made 
 to revolve by the heated air inside when the lan- 
 tern is lighted. The small figures on the outside, 
 to whose heads, legs, or arms the wires are at- 
 tached, then begin to move, and we see here an 
 old man fishing, there a ferryman rowing across 
 a stream, and here, again, two Chinese gentlemen 
 exchanging New Year’s greetings. 
 
 When Chinese children want more active 
 amusements, they play battledore and shuttle- 
 cock, only the battledore is usually the thick sole 
 of the shoe or the instep of the foot. It is quite 
 common to see the shuttlecock struck two or three 
 hundred times without a single miss. 
 
 Home-Life la China. r 
 
78 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 u Ta chiau,” or hitting the ball, is another 
 favorite game. Our boys would no doubt consid- 
 er it rather monotonous, since it is simply played 
 by striking the ball to the ground with the hand 
 as many times as possible. 
 
 “ Ta teh-lo ” is whipping the top. A Chinese 
 top is made of bamboo, with a piece of wood go- 
 ing through it, and a large hole is cut in the side, 
 which makes it have a fine humming sound as it 
 spins. u Hiding from the cat ” is not unlike our 
 “blind man’s buff,” one child having his eyes 
 blinded and trying to catch the others, who es- 
 cape from him in all directions. 
 
 ‘ ‘ Catching shrimps ’ ’ is another game in which 
 all the boys have their eyes covered and try to 
 catch each other. “Ta pan” is not unlike hop- 
 scotch. Every child has a small flat stone or a 
 copper cash, and, standing on a marked line, tries 
 to strike the stone which has been thrown by the 
 first boy. 
 
 “ Turning the dragon ” is the favorite amuse- 
 ment of Chinese boys in the spring-time; and, like 
 most of their pleasures, it has a religious or su- 
 perstitious signification. The passage of this fabu- 
 lous animal through the streets of their cities is 
 believed to be very effectual in dispelling all evil 
 influences, especially a tendency to various sick- 
 nesses thought to exist in the first month of the 
 year. 
 
 The body of the dragon is composed of a large 
 
CHINESE PUNCH AND JUDY. 
 
CHINESE BOYS AT PLAY. 
 
 Si 
 
 number of lanterns fastened together, and covered 
 with colored paper and cloth. It is frequently 
 thirty or forty feet long. The numerous joints of 
 which it is composed make it capable of being 
 twisted and turned in all directions, and its for- 
 midable-looking head and wagging tail make it 
 indeed a striking object. 
 
 Long poles are attached to a number of the 
 joints, and in the evening it is brightly lighted up. 
 As the many-jointed creature is carried through 
 the streets, turning and twisting in all directions, 
 rearing its ill-favored head and gaping mouth, it 
 is pursued by immense crowds of people. The 
 procession accompanying it makes a most un- 
 earthly din, beating gongs and letting off squibs 
 and crackers, to the great amazement of the West- 
 ern stranger who for the first time looks upon 
 the singular spectacle. 
 
 Another game somewhat similar to this is de- 
 scribed as the u lion playing with the ball.” The 
 lion is made in very much the same way as the 
 dragon, and is carried by two men or boys. Poles 
 are not usually employed, as in carrying the drag- 
 on ; but the boys insert their heads in the body 
 of the monster, while their figures and legs are 
 dressed to represent the imaginary legs of the an- 
 imal. This representation of the king of beasts 
 is made with gaping jaws, which are a great con- 
 venience to the persons who put themselves in 
 the position of his legs and feet, since they can 
 
82 
 
 home-lips in china. 
 
 see through the opening what is going on. The 
 Chinese have an idea that the lion is very fond of 
 playing with a ball, and accordingly a boy walks 
 in front of the procession carrying a very large 
 one. This young hopeful darts across the lion’s 
 path, running hither and thither to his heart’s 
 content ; and wherever the ball is seen the lion 
 follows, causing great amusement not only to the 
 boys who take part in the procession, but to the 
 spectators who crowd the streets. 
 
 The performances of the Punch and Judy 
 shows are much appreciated by Chinese children, 
 and many people are inclined to believe they were 
 introduced into England from China. In any case 
 they were well known in that empire many hun- 
 dreds of years ago. 
 
 As for the pets of Chinese boys, some of them 
 are identical with those which are prized by our 
 children — such as rabbits, kittens, and gold-fish. 
 Crickets are also very largely kept by boys, as 
 well as older people. Chinamen are so fond of 
 gambling that it is no wonder we should see the 
 children imitating their fathers, and the boys are 
 very fond of placing two of these insects in a bowl 
 or deep dish and irritating them with a straw or 
 stick till they begin to fight desperately, each boy 
 risking the few cash he may possess on the chance 
 of the cricket he selects being the winner of the 
 fight. 
 
 They have many favorite birds, among others 
 

 
 CHINESE TOY SELLER 
 
CHINESE BOYS AT PL,AY. 
 
 85 
 
 tlie canary and lark, and one very much prized is 
 a sort of thrush, called the “bird with the flowery 
 eyebrow.” You may often see the boys walking 
 on the city walls or other open spaces carrying 
 their caged birds out for an airing. Another little 
 creature which affords them much amusement is 
 the cicada, which they capture in the early sum- 
 mer-time while he sings his hoarse song on the 
 flower-stalks or among the bushes. The poor in- 
 sect is confined in a tiny cage of bamboo, and is 
 occasionally poked up by his juvenile owner to 
 drone out as hoarse and unmusical a ditty as ever 
 he chirruped in the days of his freedom. Hedge- 
 hogs and tortoises are also kept as pets ; the tor- 
 toise is believed to attain to a great age, and is 
 used, with the stork, as an emblem of longevity. 
 
 Few Chinese toys are of a durable nature. 
 There are not many toy-shops, but cheap play- 
 things are sold by an itinerant vender of small 
 wares, whose approach is announced by the beat- 
 ing of a gong, which calls the children as quickly 
 out of the houses as the music of Hamelin’s Pied 
 Piper is said to have done. They gather in 
 crowds round his baskets loaded with clay or 
 pasteboard figures. Here are cages with minia- 
 ture birds in them, ladies riding on nondescript 
 animals supposed to represent mules, carts carry- 
 ing a drum which beats as the wheels revolve. 
 Figures of genii and idols abound, and now T and 
 then an extraordinary figure is seen whose light- 
 
86 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 colored locks, tight-fitting clothing, and the stick 
 carried in the hand, proclaim it to be intended for 
 a ‘ 1 foreign barbarian. ’ ’ 
 
 Most Chinese children are possessed of the 
 proverbial “sweet tooth,” and the demand for 
 sugar-candy and sweetmeats is very liberally sup- 
 plied. The whole stock in trade of the Chinese 
 confectioner is often carried in two baskets sus- 
 pended on a pole from the man’s shoulders. One 
 basket contains the pots, pans, and other utensils 
 necessary for the prosecution of his trade ; the 
 other a tempting array of sweets of all shapes and 
 sizes. Some are of various bright colors and cu- 
 rious shapes, and many contain morsels of ground- 
 nuts or walnuts. In front of these sugar-stalls a 
 revolving pointer is often seen, a circle of barley- 
 sugar being ranged beneath it. Few Chinese 
 boys are able to resist the temptation of paying 
 down their cash for a turn at the wheel, in the 
 hope that they may gain two or three sticks for 
 their money instead of one. 
 
 Nuts are also in great demand among Chinese 
 schoolboys. Besides walnuts and ground-nuts, 
 they have water-nuts, and are fond of melon and 
 sunflower seeds; while small pieces of sugar-cane, 
 sold at the rate of one-twentieth part of a penny 
 each, are eagerly bought up. So you see that 
 Chinese boys are not unlike our own children in 
 enjoying a good game of play, and they also very 
 highly appreciate the sweetmeats upon which so 
 
ITINERANT SELLER OF SWEETMEATS. 
 
 
 
CHINESE BOYS AT PE AY. 89 
 
 many pennies are spent with so much satisfaction 
 in our own land. 
 
 The difference between Chinese boys and ours 
 lies in the fact that with us active sports requiring 
 physical exertion are commended ; whereas in 
 China all violent exercise is discouraged, and a 
 boy is taught that the more dignified and grave 
 his deportment the greater approbation will he 
 receive from his elders. 
 
 Chinese boys are fond of asking riddles, and 
 some of the juvenile prodigies of ancient days are 
 represented as having been very clever in com- 
 posing these enigmas. Many of them it is not 
 possible to give in English, because they are puns 
 upon Chinese words, and others relate to some 
 peculiarity in the way in which a character is 
 written, or to some resemblance it bears to an- 
 other character with a different meaning. 
 
 I will give two of the latter: 
 
 u A joking Siuts’ai, or Bachelor of Arts, asked 
 a Buddhist priest (who as a class are usually igno- 
 rant), ‘ How do you write “bald pate”?’ alluding 
 to the shaven head which is the distinctive mark 
 of the Buddhist priesthood. 
 
 “ ‘ That is quite easy,’ was the unexpected re- 
 ply. 1 1 take the Bachelor of Art’s tail and turn 
 it round.’ ” 
 
 5^ Bachelor of Arts. ^ Bald head. 
 
 Another somewhat similar in form to many 
 popular English riddles is the following: 
 
go 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN china. 
 
 “What is that which raises its head in em- 
 barrassment and lowers it in wealth?” 
 
 “The character In wealth it is at the 
 foot, in embarrassment J|| at the head, of the 
 character of which it forms a part.” 
 
 Others of a different kind are more readily un- 
 derstood in our country, so I will mention sev- 
 eral. 
 
 ‘ ‘ What is the fire that has no smoke, and the 
 water that has no fish ?’ ’ 
 
 “ A glow-worm’s fire has no smoke, and well- 
 water has no fish.” 
 
 “Mention the name of an object with two 
 mouths, which travels by night and not by 
 day?” 
 
 “A lantern.” 
 
 “What is that of which we have too much, 
 and that of which we desire more?” 
 
 “A summer day is too long, on account of 
 the great heat, and we wish a winter day were 
 longer.” 
 
 “What are the eyes of heaven, the bones of 
 water, and the looking-glass of the sky ?’ ’ 
 
 The answers are, “ Stars, ice, and the sea.” 
 “What is it that has a gaping mouth and 
 marches on like an invading army, devouring at 
 every step ?’ ’ 
 
 ‘ ‘ A pair of scissors cutting cloth. ’ ’ 
 
 The amusement of solving riddles is so popu- 
 lar in China among all classes that at the time of 
 
CHINESE BOYS AT PE AY. 
 
 91 
 
 the u Feast of the Lanterns ” you may often see a 
 group of literary men, as well as the common peo- 
 ple, gathered round a doorway over which hangs 
 a lantern upon which several enigmas are writ- 
 ten. 
 
 Prizes varying from several hundreds of cash 
 to some trifling gift of nuts, sweetmeats, etc. , are 
 offered for the correct solution of these riddles, 
 and crowds of people collect and engage in eager 
 competition, rather on account of the sport afford- 
 ed than for the value of the prize offered. 
 
92 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CHINESE GIRLS AT HOME. 
 
 IF you were to ask a Chinaman how many 
 children he had in his family, he would reply by 
 telling you the number of his sons. The girls 
 among them are not counted. Why should such 
 worthless little beings be reckoned in with their 
 ever- welcome, eagerly-desired brothers? 
 
 u A boy is worth ten times as much as a girl,” 
 and, “If a girl does no harm, it is enough: you 
 cannot expect her to be either useful or good,” 
 are two of the common sayings of which I could 
 quote many to show you how lightly the daugh- 
 ters of China are valued. 
 
 How I wish the girls of our country would 
 think sometimes of their little sisters in far-off 
 China, girls looking back to a childhood all 
 unlike that of our happy daughters, to a future 
 more different still ! 
 
 Eet us take a peep into some of these Chinese 
 homes, both of the richer and the poorer classes, 
 and try and find out the sort of life the girls live, 
 and why they are thought so little of. 
 
 One reason for the universal feeling that girls 
 are useless burdens is hinted at in the Chinese 
 proverb, “A daughter is like a fine young bam- 
 
CHINESE GIRES AT HOME. 93 
 
 boo springing up just outside your garden fence.” 
 That is, the child may be fair and lovable, but 
 she does not belong to you — as soon as she is old 
 enough to repay a parent’s care she goes off into 
 another family and is rarely if ever seen by her 
 own relatives. 
 
 Girls in China are married, or taken into the 
 family of the little boy to whom they are be- 
 trothed, at such an early age that their parents 
 see very little of them after the years of childhood 
 are past. 
 
 But a stronger reason than this lies in the fact 
 of the disappointment that parents feel when for 
 the first time a baby girl opens her eyes upon the 
 strange new world and takes the place, as it seems 
 to them, of the boy they would have been so glad 
 to welcome. And why, you will ask, do they 
 value their sons so much ? Principally, perhaps, 
 because the more sons they have the more impor- 
 tant people they will be, since these sons will not 
 only always remain under their father’s roof, but 
 young wives will be brought there and families 
 grow up in the same house. A man with many 
 sons becomes before long a person of importance. 
 
 Besides this, it is believed that when a man 
 dies and passes into the unseen world he needs 
 food and clothing and money, just as he did while 
 on earth. The Chinese profess to have found out 
 a plan for supplying a dead man with all he 
 needs. Paper money, paper garments, paper 
 
94 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 houses, furniture, and servants are all burned, and 
 are thus transmitted into the world beyond the 
 grave. And only boys can render this service to 
 their parents. If a family consists of girls only, 
 then no one will be able to worship and burn in- 
 cense before the spirit tablet which will be set up 
 in the home of the departed when they die, which 
 one of their spirits is supposed to enter. For a 
 Chinaman believes he has three souls, and at 
 death one is buried with the body, another enters 
 the unseen world, the third dwells in the tablet. 
 The hungry, unclothed spirits of those who leave 
 behind them no sons to attend to their wants will 
 wander destitute and homeless in the dim regions 
 of the spirit-world. Is it wonderful, when they 
 believe this, that girls are despised and lightly 
 valued by the Chinese, while boys are highly 
 prized and fondly loved ? 
 
 Sometimes, soon after a little girl is bom, her 
 father will call in a blind fortune-teller, who is 
 supposed to know all about the future. These 
 men are constantly seen going up and down Chi- 
 nese streets, beating on the little gong they carry 
 in their hands to let people know they are com- 
 ing. When the fortune-teller is questioned about 
 the little girl, and told the year, month, day, and 
 hour of her birth, he makes a calculation, and, 
 perhaps, tells them that their little daughter will 
 be very unfortunate all through life; she has been 
 born under a very unlucky star, and nothing she 
 
CHINESE GIRRS AT HOME. 
 
 95 
 
 does will prosper. Then the parents think, if 
 their child is likely to be so unfortunate, they had 
 better at once give her to some nuns to be brought 
 up by them, since then she will at least never 
 want for food or clothing. These child nuns are 
 taught by the older inhabitants of the nunnery to 
 weave and embroider, and not unfrequently to 
 read and write. They serve the elder devotees 
 and assist in the temple services, and, on the 
 whole, their lot is less hard than that of many 
 Chinese girls in their own homes. 
 
 Sometimes the fortune-teller says that the little 
 girl’s fate is bad : not only will she be unfortu- 
 nate, but if they keep her in the house she will be 
 the cause of harm to her friends; worst of all, her 
 brother may very likely die. Perhaps he was 
 born in a year of the cycle named “ Hare,” and if 
 she were born on a day of the cycle of the “Dog” 
 then her influence will certainly prove fatal to 
 him, unless she be removed, since hares are de- 
 stroyed by dogs. In this case the little girl will 
 probably be given away to some woman who is 
 willing to bring up a child as the future wife of 
 her little son. It is considered necessary that an 
 arrangement of this kind should be closed by 
 money, and a sum no larger than a shilling is not 
 unfrequently given, because such little girls are 
 thought to be worth nothing. “Is that your 
 daughter?” I have sometimes asked a Chinese 
 woman, as I have seen a little girl sitting by her 
 
HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 
 96 
 
 side. “No, she is betrothed to my son,” is a fre- 
 quent reply as she looks away to a small boy play- 
 ing merrily, with his thoughts more exercised by 
 the making of mud-pies than anything else. 
 
 If a girl is blind or lame her chances of life are 
 small. 
 
 One child whom I knew well was lame, and 
 her family determined to get rid of her, so they 
 carried her to the gate of the Mission compound 
 and left her there, to see if the “Jesus teachers’’ 
 cared to take her. How glad she was when she 
 was taken in, dressed in comfortable clothing, fed, 
 and kindly spoken to ! How eagerly she listened 
 to the sweet story of Jesus and his love; of how 
 he made the lame to walk, and placed his hands 
 on little children’s heads, and loves them still — 
 girls even, as well as boys ! 
 
 You can guess how pleased the missionaries 
 were when, years after, they used to hear the 
 lame girl telling to new arrivals in the school the 
 joyful gospel news which had made her own heart 
 glad. She has gone home now to the mansions 
 prepared for Chinese as well as English children. 
 
 I think she often felt very thankful she was lame, 
 even though she suffered severe pain at times, for 
 if she had been strong and well her parents might 
 never have laid her down at the missionaries’ 
 gate, and, like many millions of Chinese chil- 
 dren, she might have died without hearing of the 
 Eord Jesus. 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 
CHINESE GIRLS AT HOME. 
 
 97 
 
 What do these Chinese girls look like? you 
 may ask. Well, many of them have bright, at- 
 tractive faces, and all have very dark eyes. They 
 wear their raven locks dressed in different ways, 
 according to the province in which they live. In 
 most parts the hair is drawn back and twisted into 
 one heavy strand, which hangs down the back 
 and is tied with scarlet cord. Frequently the 
 front hair is cut, making a fringe similar to an 
 English fashion. Sometimes two plaits are made 
 and bunched up at either side of the head, being 
 decorated with gayly-colored flowers. At other 
 times, especially in the winter season, they wear 
 a strange little head-dress, consisting of a silken 
 embroidered band, with a thick black silk fringe 
 hanging down over the forehead and ears. When 
 a girl is about thirteen years of age her hair is put 
 up in womanly style. It is twisted round curious 
 wire frames of various shapes. Some are like but- 
 terflies’ wings, others resemble a teapot handle. 
 Other young ladies wear enormous chignons, and 
 Manchu girls have their hair tied in a large bow 
 upon the top of their heads. Until their marriage 
 most girls wear the hair in front dressed round, 
 keeping the natural appearance of the forehead. 
 After the wedding it is dressed square. This ap- 
 pearance is obtained by pulling out the hairs round 
 the forehead, making it look broad and high. 
 Even little girls frequently wear heavy ear-rings, 
 bracelets, and rings, if they belong to a rich family. 
 
9 8 
 
 HOME-LIFE in china. 
 
 When in holiday attire most girls have their 
 cheeks adorned with rouge, and a little touch of 
 it just under the lower lip. They also use white 
 powder very plentifully. 
 
 A Chinese girl is very little troubled with con- 
 siderations of fashion. It is true there is a slight 
 difference in the cut of the garments worn by girls 
 and women of different provinces. Most frequent- 
 ly the more costly tunics and embroidered skirts 
 descend from the grandmother down to several 
 generations of her grandchildren. It is true that 
 certain shades in the color of material are in 
 greater favor one year than another, that the 
 width of the sleeves and the style of trimming 
 does to some extent vary, but by no means in the 
 degree that is found in Western lands. 
 
 In summer the underclothing of the middle 
 and upper classes is usually composed of fine 
 grass-cloth,’ in winter of cotton cloth. The outer 
 garments are all of the same shape, but differ 
 much in material and color. In summer the 
 loose tunic or pelisse is often made of beautiful 
 silky Chinese gauze, and will be in color light 
 blue, green, or gray. The trousers or pantalettes 
 are frequently of the same material of a different 
 color, and you will often see red silk trousers with 
 a green tunic, and purple gauze trousers with a 
 pelisse of figured blue silk. These gorgeous gar- 
 ments are trimmed with gold braid intermixed 
 with silk of various shades, and the large sleeves 
 
CHINESE GIRLS AT HOME. 
 
 99 
 
 of the best tunics are trimmed with broad strips 
 of satin embroidered with fairy landscapes or birds 
 and flowers. 
 
 But the most important part of a young girl’s 
 dress in China is her shoes. Such tiny shoes they 
 are, of colored silk or satin, most tastefully em- 
 broidered, with brightly-painted heels just peep- 
 ing beneath the neat pantalette; and the feet are 
 supposed to merit the poetical name bestowed 
 upon them of “golden lilies.” But how sad it is 
 to discover that such a result is produced by inde- 
 scribable torture, and that the part of the foot 
 which is not seen is nothing but a mass of dis- 
 torted or broken bones ! 
 
 This deformity is produced, not by iron or 
 wooden shoes, as is sometimes supposed, but by 
 narrow cotton bandages about three yards long. 
 They are applied when the little girl is six years 
 old. 
 
 One end of the strip of cotton is placed be- 
 neath the instep and then carried over the four 
 small toes, drawing them down beneath the foot. 
 Another twist draws the heel and great toe nearer 
 together, making an indentation beneath the sole. 
 When all the cloth has been used, the end is firm- 
 ly sewed down, and the feet are left for a week or 
 two in that condition. Clean bandages are now 
 and then put on, but the change has to be very 
 rapidly effected, or the blood begins again to cir- 
 culate in the poor benumbed feet, and the agony 
 
 6 
 
IOO 
 
 home-eiee in china. 
 
 becomes almost unbearable. Not unfrequently 
 during the process a girl loses one or two of her 
 toes, but she feels repaid for the pain she endures 
 by being the possessor of still smaller feet. Mo- 
 thers and nurses frequently perform this duty for 
 their daughters, and in passing a Chinese home 
 one sometimes hears the bitter crying of a child 
 whose feet are being bound. 
 
 Yet so strong is the power of fashion that 
 sooner than be unlike other girls, or have to bear 
 the derision of their neighbors, who will laugh at 
 them and say, “Just look at those two boats go- 
 ing by,” in reference to their large feet, they pre- 
 fer to endure the pain. I have known cases of 
 little girls, whose parents had been induced by the 
 missionaries to refrain from binding their feet, 
 who would actually procure bandages and try to 
 do the binding themselves. 
 
 For the first year or so the children suffer con- 
 stant pain. By numberless devices they try to 
 benumb the feet and relieve agony. Through the 
 weary summer days they lie restless with fever 
 upon the cool mats of their couch, and when the 
 cold nights of winter come they are afraid to wrap 
 themselves in any covering, since if the limbs 
 grow warm the suffering becomes more intense. 
 When the feet are first bound it is very difficult to 
 use them. Girls can only move about by means 
 of two stools, upon which they rest their knees 
 and which are moved alternately by their hands. 
 
CHINESE GIRLS AT HOME. 
 
 IOI 
 
 At last this much-desired smallness is obtained, 
 the girl’s foot is deformed for life, and she is 
 greatly admired by all her friends. 
 
 “What a good mother she must have had!” 
 is a remark frequently made when a girl is seen 
 with smaller feet than usual. 
 
 “Ah,” said a Chinese mother to me, who was 
 
 GOLDEN LILIES— BARE AND SHOD. 
 
 grieving over the death of her daughter, ‘ ‘ she was 
 a grown-up girl. Had she been little I should not 
 have minded at all ; and she had the tiniest of tiny 
 feet” Not, “Is she good or clever or beautiful?” 
 do the guests ask at a Chinese wedding, but, 
 i ‘ What is the size of her foot ?’ ’ * 
 
102 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 Three inches is the correct length of the fash- 
 ionable shoes in which Chinese ladies toddle and 
 limp, supporting themselves on a child’s shoulder 
 or by means of a strong staff. Some very wealthy 
 ladies are the possessors of feet which are almost 
 useless, and as they can hardly walk from one 
 room to another in their spacious mansions, they 
 are not unfrequently carried, especially about their 
 gardens, on the backs of their large-footed attend- 
 ants. Women whose feet are not quite so small, 
 though still tightly bound, manage to walk occa- 
 sionally, with great difficulty, a distance of sev- 
 eral miles. u Their movements are as the waving 
 of the willows,” says a Chinese poet in reference 
 to these tiny feet; but to our eyes the gait appears 
 to be by no means elegant, and bears a strong re- 
 semblance to what would be obtained by walking 
 on our heels. 
 
 This custom has no connection with religion, 
 and is not prescribed by the law of the country. 
 Indeed, no small-footed woman is allowed within 
 the precincts of the imperial palace, and no Man- 
 chu woman binds her feet. It is only the spread 
 of Christianity, and the growing up of that Chris- 
 tian public feeling which teaches compassion for 
 the weak and sympathetic tenderness for the suf- 
 fering, that can abolish foot-binding from Chinese 
 homes. 
 
 Slowly but surely this influence is already 
 working, and in connection with several of our 
 
CHINESE GIRLS AT HOME. 103 
 
 native churches anti-foot-binding societies have 
 been formed. These are joined not only by the 
 guardians of young girls, but by the parents of 
 lads. For only when people become willing that 
 their sons should marry large-footed wives can 
 there be any widespread ceasing from bandaging 
 in China. “I shall never bind the feet of my 
 daughters, or allow them to marry any one but a 
 Christian,” says many a Chinese Christian to- 
 day. And they keep to this resolution, in very 
 many cases in the midst of persecution and suffer- 
 ing, and surrounded on all sides by trials and dif- 
 ficulties we know little of. 
 
 The origin of this custom of foot-binding seems 
 very doubtful. It is sometimes referred back to 
 an empress of an ancient dynasty, who bound her 
 feet, some say to hide a deformity, and others to 
 make them more beautifully small. Some ac- 
 counts declare it was introduced with the idea of 
 preventing women from going much from home. 
 The Chinese think if young girls go out of doors 
 they are sure to get into mischief; and in one book 
 the example of an eminent lady of olden times is 
 commended to their notice, who “for twelve years 
 never looked out of the door of her house.” 
 
 Girls of the wealthier classes are seldom seen 
 abroad, but the daughters of the poor lead a much 
 freer and happier life. When little more than 
 babies, and just able to carry a basket and rake, 
 they are sent out on the city wall, to a piece of 
 
104 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 waste land, or the slope of some neighboring hill, 
 to collect fuel for the family. 
 
 They gather the dry grass and sticks, and 
 scrape together the fallen needles of the pine-trees 
 and everything else that can possibly be used in 
 keeping up the fire, which is lighted only for 
 cooking purposes. The Chinese are not usually 
 particularly unkind to little children, and they 
 need only fear a beating if they fail to gather 
 sufficient fuel to keep the pot boiling. In the 
 bright spring-time, when the fresh wild herbs are 
 springing up over the waste places and on the 
 slopes of the city walls, the children may be seen 
 filling their baskets, and making in this way a 
 small addition to the family meal. 
 
 While still very tiny children, girls are in- 
 trusted with the care of the baby. The little one 
 frequently sits on his small sister’s back ill a scarf 
 which is tied over her shoulders. The baby’s 
 feet dangle at her side, his arms are often round 
 her neck, and his small head bobs up and down 
 as she runs about or sways herself from side to 
 side to quiet him. 
 
 Tittle girls also find very pleasant employ- 
 ment during the cotton harvest in picking the 
 snowy balls. They take care of the silkworms, 
 too, gathering mulberry leaves to feed them 
 upon, till they spin the beautiful balls of delicate 
 floss silk, that are woven into the costly plain and 
 flowered fabrics for which China is so famous. 
 
CHINESE GIRLS AT HOME. 
 
 10 5 
 
 Nearly all the girls are taught to assist their 
 mothers in spinning and weaving the cotton cloth 
 required for the family garments. They also 
 learn to cook the simple meals of rice and sweet 
 potato, or various other vegetables and fish, meat 
 being very rarely indeed within their reach. 
 
 Many little girls while very young are able 
 to add their mite to the family income by learn- 
 ing under their mother’s direction one of the 
 numberlesss small trades which employ the busy 
 fingers of poor Chinese women. 
 
 A large number of children are taught to make 
 the soles which are used for Chinese shoes. They 
 paste pieces of old rag on a board or shutter till a 
 thickness of about half an inch is obtained. The 
 substance is then dried in the sun, and after be- 
 ing stripped from the board is ready for the shoe- 
 maker’s use. Others for a short season are em- 
 ployed in the manufacture of the. beautiful lan- 
 terns, of all shapes and sizes, which are in such 
 universal request during the festivities of the first 
 month. In Central China also one is often re- 
 minded of the lace-making districts of England by 
 seeing girls seated at pillows and turning over 
 bobbins which are almost identical with those 
 which Cowper saw in his Buckinghamshire vil- 
 lage, and wrote, 
 
 “ Yon cottager, who weaves at her own door, 
 
 Pillow and bobbins all her little store; 
 
 Content though mean, and cheerful if not gay, 
 Shuffling her threads about the livelong day.” 
 
106 home-life in china. 
 
 When will the day come when we shall be 
 able to add of these busy Chinese workers, 
 
 “Just knows, and knows no more, her Bible true, 
 
 And in that charter reads, with sparkling eyes, 
 
 Her title to a treasure in the skies ”? 
 
 Other girls are skilful in making small paper 
 boxes used in the jewellers’ shops, and many are 
 employed in the plaiting of silk to lengthen 
 queues. 
 
 The art of embroidering also supplies work to 
 a large number of women and girls. At a very 
 early age the children are taught to assist in their 
 mother’s business, and many little girls are kept 
 so closely to their frames that their eyes are per- 
 manently injured. The shoe and the fancy shops 
 give out a large quantity of work to these busy 
 toilers, but the wages paid for it are very low. 
 
 In many cases, for common embroidery not 
 more than threepence a day is paid. For the 
 finer work, whose delicate beauty excites the 
 admiration of all foreign ladies, they never re- 
 ceive more then eightpence or ninepence a day, 
 working from early dawn till dusk. But the in- 
 dustry which employs probably a far larger num- 
 ber of girls than any other is that of making paper 
 money to be used in the worship of the gods and 
 of deceased relatives. Much that is used for this 
 purpose consists merely of thin perforated Chinese 
 paper. But the more elaborate paper money, in 
 the making of which the small hands of children 
 
CHINESE GIRES AT HOME. 107 
 
 are engaged, takes the form of ingots, similar 
 in appearance to the shoes or lumps of silver used 
 in all large trading transactions. In their man- 
 ufacture strips of thick paper are twisted into 
 forms bearing a resemblance to the real ingots, 
 and scraps of gilt paper or tinfoil are then pasted 
 on them. They are strung in rows of twenty or 
 more, and represent a considerable amount of 
 money in the supposed currency of the spirit- 
 world. 
 
 Not unfrequently girls of the poorer classes 
 are sold as slaves to wealthy ladies. The sums 
 paid for them vary, but frequently do not exceed 
 five pounds. They are usually employed in the 
 care of their mistresses’ children, and are often 
 not unkindly treated. But sometimes the mis- 
 tress is possessed of a violent temper and will 
 half starve and mercilessly beat her little slave 
 for the smallest misdemeanors; and then their lot 
 is hard indeed. 
 
 One little slave girl in Hankow had been so 
 cruelly beaten by her mistress, who only two 
 years before had given the sum of forty pounds 
 for her, that in despair she took a dose of opium, 
 hoping thus to find in death an escape from her 
 misery. She was only thirteen years of age. 
 Her owners, when they discovered what she had 
 done, tried several native remedies believed to be 
 antidotes: among others they used the warm blood 
 of a fowl just killed. But seeing 110 sign of re- 
 
io8 HOME-UFE in china. 
 
 covery, they sent at last for a foreign missionary, 
 having heard that Europeans were often able to 
 restore those who were in the early stages of the 
 opium stupor. When the missionary reached the 
 residence of the little slave’s owner, he found he 
 had been summoned too late. He did all he 
 could, but the unhappy little girl could not be 
 restored. 
 
 Another little slave, whose mistress lived in 
 the district ravaged recently by a great famine, 
 made her escape in that time of general distress, 
 and was brought by a relative to a Christian mis- 
 sion-school. She was received by the missiona- 
 ries, who were kept in ignorance of her former 
 history. As time passed by she made good pro- 
 gress in her studies, and heard of One who gave 
 His life that even little girls might be blessed. She 
 was very happy in her new life, till a day came 
 when, as not uufrequently occurred, some Chinese 
 ladies asked permission to look over the school. 
 It was observed that this little scholar seemed 
 greatly terrified when she saw them, though she 
 gave no reason for her very evident alarm. Some 
 time after the mystery was explained, when one of 
 the ladies made a formal claim for the child, say- 
 ing she was her slave who had escaped from her. 
 The little scholar clung to her Christian teachers 
 with tears and entreaties, begging them to allow 
 her to remain with them. But the case was so 
 clear, and the lady’s claim so indisputable, that 
 
CHINESE GIRLS AT HOME. 109 
 
 they could not refuse to restore her to her owner, 
 though they did it with sorrowful hearts. 
 
 Another girl I knew had been purchased by a 
 family in rather poor circumstances, to bring up 
 as the betrothed of their eldest son. The boy 
 died, and so the poor little girl was kept in the 
 family as the drudge of the household. She 
 never was called by any other name but that of 
 “ya-tou,” or “slave.” She was only about ten 
 years of age, but was ordered to carry almost con- 
 stantly upon her back a child more than four 
 years of age belonging to her mistress. She was 
 not strong, and the constant carrying of a burden 
 far too heavy for her developed hip disease, and 
 the poor child became a constant sufferer. Her 
 owners were so annoyed at her uselessness that 
 they would do little to relieve her pain, and re- 
 fused to allow her to enter the Mission Hospital. 
 Some time after, the ladies in charge of a mission 
 boarding-school succeeded in prevailing upon 
 them to give her up to their care. As she was 
 quite unable to do any work for her owners, they 
 at last consented to this arrangement. So the lit- 
 tle invalid has found a kind Christian home, and 
 when I last heard of her she was somewhat im- 
 proving in health. 
 
 Other girls are not sold, but pawned by their 
 relatives in seasons of poverty, and can be re- 
 claimed when the small sum of money advanced 
 upon them is repaid. 
 
no 
 
 HOME-EIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 I have not yet touched upon the question of 
 the education of Chinese girls, because, unless in 
 very exceptional cases, they receive none. Some- 
 times a wealthy man will allow his little daughter 
 to share in her brother’s studies for a short time; 
 and the children who are brought up in the nun- 
 neries are, as I mentioned before, usually taught 
 to read and write. 
 
 Most of the heroines of Chinese stories are able 
 not only to read and write, but also to compose 
 rhymes ending with given words — an accomplish- 
 ment in high repute among Chinese students. 
 But these talented young ladies appear much 
 more frequently in the pages of Chinese story- 
 books than in real life; and this not by any means 
 because Chinese girls are wanting in intelligence, 
 but because it is considered unwise to allow them 
 to become as clever as their future husbands. 
 Moreover, it is feared that if girls learn to read 
 they will be injured by the study of bad books ; 
 since, according to a Chinese writer, “the femi- 
 nine mind is unsteady in purpose and easily 
 swerved from the right.” Yet in past ages there 
 have been now and again “bright particular 
 stars” among the ranks of Chinese women, espe- 
 cially of the upper classes of society, who have 
 tried to gain some insight into the literature of 
 their country. 
 
 One of the most celebrated of these ladies was 
 Pan Chao, who lived in the first century after 
 
CHINESE GIRES AT HOME. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Christ. She considered that it was desirable that 
 girls should be educated, and so also did the Em- 
 press of Tai-Tsung, a ruler of the Tang dynasty. 
 Another lady of high rank, who lived at about 
 the same period, spent much time and thought in 
 arranging passages from the classics for the in- 
 struction of her niece, who was about to enter the 
 imperial palace. 
 
 The several volumes which have been com- 
 piled for the use of Chinese girls are all very sim- 
 ilar, and usually bear some such title as “Coun- 
 sels,” “Instructions,” or “Admonitions for the 
 Inner Apartments.” Girls are there exhorted to 
 pay close attention to all household duties, and 
 particular directions are given as to the dress and 
 manners becoming to young maidens. They are 
 taught to be respectful to their elders, and very 
 minute directions are given to guide them in their 
 behavior to their mother-in-law and their future 
 husband. They are told to cultivate the “Four 
 Virtues and Three Obediences.” The former re- 
 late to correct manners, and include modesty and 
 docility, careful speech, a submissive demeanor, 
 and proper employment, literally “silk and 
 thread, ’ ’ which refer to weaving and embroidering. 
 
 The “Three Obediences,” or degrees of de- 
 pendence, are that of a daughter upon her father, 
 a wife upon her husband, and a mother upon her 
 son. Some of the duties which are enlarged upon 
 in these Chinese girls’ primers would meet with 
 
112 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 approval even in the West. A girl is charged to 
 be truthful, unselfish, and loving; to “be tran- 
 quil and reverent in the thoughts of the heart, 
 and then the inner life will clearly manifest itself 
 in the outward actions.” She is counselled never 
 to search out other people’s affairs, like a busy- 
 body, and to treat her handmaids and slaves with 
 forbearance and kindness. “Do not ferret out 
 the smallest errors in accounts, and then beat the 
 servants if they fall a cash or two short in the 
 reckoning : you may think such conduct a proof 
 of wisdom, but it rather exhibits your parsimo- 
 ny,” is the counsel and verdict of one writer. 
 
 One of these books contains an account of an 
 educated Chinese mother who trained her two 
 sons most carefully, and read to them stories of 
 the noble patriots and statesmen of their own coun- 
 try. In after life it is said these sons were known 
 as wise, clean-handed officials, daring to refuse 
 bribes and giving righteous judgment; “which 
 was certainly the result of their mother’s teach- 
 ing.” I remember also when in 1882 the mother 
 of the Viceroy hi Hung Chang, the greatest man 
 in China to-day, died at Wuchang, a sort of me- 
 moir was issued by her sons, which contained a 
 most interesting account of her early years, and 
 attributed the honors and high rank to which her 
 children had attained to her wise training and 
 unceasing care. 
 
 These Chinese books to which I have referred 
 
CHINESE GIRLS AT HOME. 113 
 
 frequently lay down rules relating to the toilet, 
 and what girls should think of while making it. 
 “While powdering the face they should remem- 
 ber that the heart must be kept white and clean ; 
 in arranging the head-dress, consider that the 
 heart needs to be carefully regulated ; in oiling 
 the hair, resolve to make the heart pliable and 
 docile.” Most of the girls of the upper classes 
 are instructed in the art of cookery. They are 
 commanded to imitate the example of a certain 
 empress who always superintended the prepara- 
 tion of the dishes which appeared on the emper- 
 or’s table. Another lady of rank, in days of old, 
 always made it her practice to go into her kitchen 
 at dawn of day and prepare gruel for her servants, 
 ordering them to eat it before commencing their 
 work. 
 
 Girls are also taught to show hospitality to 
 strangers ; and, since example is more forcible 
 than precept, the story of a hospitable lady of 
 olden time is related to them. This eminent 
 dame, when her family were in very poor cir- 
 cumstances, sold her hair to purchase a meal for 
 her guest, and emptied her pillow of straw to 
 satisfy the hunger of his horse. 
 
 But these books find their way into the hands 
 of very few Chinese girls, since, as I mentioned 
 before, very few learn to read, and girls’ schools, 
 with the exception of those established by mis- 
 sionaries, are almost unknown. 
 
1 14 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 After the age of eight or ten, the daughters of 
 the wealthier classes are kept within the walls of 
 their own homes. It is thought improper for them 
 to be seen out of doors. 
 
 They have few amusements, and though they 
 have not to endure the hard, grinding poverty of 
 the poorer classes, their life is much more cramped, 
 and they have little variety in it 
 
 Most of the larger houses have fine gardens 
 attached to them, containing winding walks which 
 pass under arches of curious rock-work and over 
 streams or ponds spanned by the well-known wil- 
 low-pattern bridge. But the indoor-life is very 
 monotonous. 
 
 Some girls are taught to play on musical in- 
 struments, and to sing songs or selections from the 
 classics in a high, unnatural key, by no means 
 attractive to the ears of Europeans. 
 
 They spend much time in working embroi- 
 dery. The paper patterns for these wonderful 
 flowers, birds, and figures which are used in the 
 ornamentation of Chinese clothing can be pur- 
 chased at embroiderers’ shops. But some ladies 
 have quite a talent for inventing new patterns, 
 and I have seen them working most beautiful 
 original designs upon costly silks and satins, which 
 it would be very difficult to find equalled in the 
 shops where such articles are sold. 
 
 Chinese girls are betrothed at a very early age, 
 sometimes as mere babies. Frequently a gentle- 
 
CHINESE GIRES AT HOME. 115 
 
 man having a friend in a similar position in life 
 with a little son, will promise, when the years of 
 childhood are past, to give his daughter in mar- 
 riage to the boy. A u mei-rin,” or match-maker, 
 will be employed, the children’s horoscopes cast, 
 and for several days the matter is under considera- 
 tion of both families. If during this time of wait- 
 ing any accident happens in either family, such as 
 a breakage among the chinaware or the loss of 
 some trifling article, it is looked upon as an omen 
 of evil, and the match is not concluded. But if 
 all goes on quietly, the parents decide that the 
 betrothal is a suitable one. A number of presents 
 are then exchanged. Among them are two cards. 
 One of these is ornamented with a gilt dragon, 
 and has written upon it a number of particulars 
 relating to the boy. The other is decorated with 
 the picture of a phoenix, and gives similar infor- 
 mation about the little girl. A thread of red silk 
 with needles at either end is passed through each 
 of these cards, which being exchanged, are pre- 
 served in the families of the children as signs of 
 betrothal. I11 reference to this red silk, it is said 
 that the feet of people destined to be married are 
 tied together with invisible threads. 
 
 These engagements made by parents for their 
 children are as binding as marriage, although the 
 principal parties know nothing of the arrange- 
 ments. Very sad surprises constantly occur at 
 Chinese weddings, for frequently no communica- 
 
 Home-Llfb >n China. n 
 
n6 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 tion takes place between the two families from 
 the time of betrothal. Sometimes the family cir- 
 cumstances have greatly altered, and the father 
 who has promised his child to the son of some 
 wealthy man finds he has to give her up to a fam- 
 ily in great poverty. Occasionally it is found that 
 since the betrothal the bridegroom has become a 
 helpless cripple. In another case of which I 
 heard, the bride had been attacked by the terri- 
 ble disease of leprosy; and in another the bride- 
 groom had fallen a victim to that incurable mal- 
 ady. 
 
 When the marriage-day arrives, the girl-bride 
 is brought to her new home in the grand bridal- 
 chair of brilliant scarlet, elaborately decorated. 
 None of her friends accompany her, with the ex- 
 ception of two old women, who act the part which 
 is in England allotted to the girlish companions 
 of the bride. One of these old women is the &o- 
 
 o 
 
 between, or match-maker, and the other takes the 
 part of mistress of the ceremonies. The bride’s 
 relatives are supposed to remain in their own 
 home and bewail her loss. When the door of the 
 bridal-chair is opened no flowing robes of white 
 are revealed, for white is the color of mourning, 
 and must on no account be worn at a wedding. 
 The little bride is usually attired in garments of 
 various colors, but a large robe of scarlet is worn 
 over all the rest. Her hair is adorned with a 
 massive head-dress of gilt ornaments, and her 
 
CHINESE GIRES AT HOME. 1 17 
 
 head is covered with a veil of scarlet silk or cloth, 
 which quite conceals her features. 
 
 At the wedding breakfast, at which the bride 
 and bridegroom alone sit down, and of which the 
 bride is never expected to partake, she sits mo- 
 tionless, her face still covered with the veil. They 
 each drink out of two cups of wine, which are 
 tied together with a silken thread. During this 
 meal the mistress of ceremonies chants a song, 
 supposed to be composed for the occasion, in which 
 she predicts that every nuptial blessing shall be 
 the portion of the young pair before her. 
 
 When the bridegroom has finished his repast 
 he leads his young wife into the decorated bridal 
 chamber, where a large number of red boxes, con- 
 taining the young lady’s wardrobe, are piled up. 
 The young husband then removes the veil, and 
 for the first time looks upon the face of the girl 
 who has become his wife. Soon after the bride 
 and bridegroom together worship the spirit-tablets 
 of departed ancestors and do reverence to the elder 
 members of the family. A grand marriage feast 
 is the climax of the day’s festivities, and after- 
 wards a large number of friends, both men and 
 women, are admitted to look upon the face of the 
 bride and to make the most personal remarks upon 
 her appearance. This is an ordeal through which 
 every Chinese bride passes, and through a great 
 part of the day I have frequently seen them stand- 
 ing, poor trembling girls, little more than chil- 
 
Il8 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 dren, with, downcast, immovable faces — for a Chi- 
 nese bride is taught that she must appear alike 
 unconscious of blame or praise, of rude criticism 
 or friendly words of sympathy. 
 
 The bride is not supposed to visit her parents 
 till four months after the wedding. Not unfre- 
 quently this visit is a very sad one, when the 
 young wife has to tell the story of some cruel and 
 heartless mother-in-law, who makes life a torture 
 to all who are in her power. Sad to say, these 
 visits to the old home are often taken advantage 
 of by miserable young wives to attempt to put an 
 end to their lives ; for life is so lightly valued by 
 them that the taking of it seems only a very little 
 thing. 
 
 But there are also comparatively happy mar- 
 riages, considering the strange way in which they 
 are brought about. Yet the life of all women in 
 China is drearier or sadder than that of the men; 
 and that must always be the case in lands where 
 the compassionate teachings of the Christian reli- 
 gion are not known. For there might is right, 
 and the weak ones have to suffer under the rule of 
 the strong. 
 
 Should a girl in China lose her betrothed, or a 
 young wife her husband, she is highly commend- 
 ed if she takes opium or in some other w T ay con- 
 trives to follow him into the unseen world. Out- 
 side the walls of many Chinese cities, as well as in 
 some public streets, I have frequently seen monu- 
 
CHINESE GIRES AT HOME. II9 
 
 mental arches erected to perpetuate the memory 
 of filial sons and daughters, or of young women 
 who have killed themselves sooner than outlive 
 their betrothed or their husbands. Cases of this 
 kind are reported to the emperor, if the young 
 lady is of a high social position, and these arches 
 are erected at his command. A young lady con- 
 nected with the family of a previous Chinese am- 
 bassador to England received this honor after 
 death, and the case was reported in the pages of 
 the ‘ ‘ Peking Gazette, ’ ’ or official newspaper of 
 China. 
 
 Many stories are related of the virtues pos- 
 sessed by heroines of past ages. Some of these 
 are particularly warlike in spirit, but the leading 
 idea in each is usually the cultivation of filial pi- 
 ety and the devotion at all costs to a father’s in- 
 terests. I will give a condensed report of one of 
 these stories, since they convey some idea of the 
 virtues which are considered worthy of imitation 
 by the daughters of the Flowery Land. 
 
 More than fourteen centuries ago there lived 
 in the province of Hunan a celebrated general 
 whose name was Wha. He had an only daughter 
 who was called Moh-lan. This young lady had 
 been duly instructed in all womanly arts, such as 
 spinning, weaving, and embroidering; and in ad- 
 dition she had been taught to use the bow and ar- 
 row, and, moreover, was an accomplished horse- 
 woman. Gen. Wha was a brave commander, 
 
120 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 and his name was a terror to the border tribes 
 which ravaged the empire. He was now, how- 
 ever, advanced in years, and had humbly peti- 
 tioned the emperor for permission to retire from 
 his laborious post. But the imperial army could 
 ill afford to lose so noted a general, and the “Son 
 of Heaven” insisted that the aged and feeble sol- 
 dier should, under pain of his heaviest displeasure, 
 take up his position at the head of the troops. 
 The imperial couriers delivered their message to 
 the sick commander, and Moh-lan, sitting at her 
 loom behind the curtains of the apartments of the 
 women, heard the order also, and knew that it 
 must be obeyed. She had no brother to take his 
 father’s place and lead the troops to victory. She 
 was only a girl, but she rose to the occasion and 
 determined to do all that a son might have done. 
 The decision was no sooner made than carried 
 out. Hastily she encased her small feet in her 
 father’s military boots, then seizing his weapons, 
 with his plumed hat upon her head, she sprang 
 upon his noble war-horse and galloped away to 
 put herself at the head of the army. Seeing the 
 familiar arms and trappings of their beloved com- 
 mander, the troops supposed the maiden to be 
 some young officer who had been appointed at his 
 request to lead them, and gladly followed to vic- 
 tory. For more than ten years after this Moh- 
 lan’ s course was one of uninterrupted success. 
 At last every enemy was subdued and the land 
 
CHINESE GIRLS AT HOME 
 
 121 
 
 was at peace. Only then did Moh-lan return to 
 her old home, to find that her venerated father 
 had passed away, and her other relatives were 
 doubtful of her identity. At length they were 
 convinced, and received her with open arms. 
 The emperor, when he heard it rumored that his 
 all-conquering commander was but a woman, 
 sent for her to court and gave her hand in mar- 
 riage to one of the high officers of state. When 
 she died a splendid monument was erected by im- 
 perial command to commemorate her filial piety 
 and patriotism. 
 
122 
 
 HOME-UFE IN CHINA. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 TWO BOY-EMPERORS OF CHINA. 
 
 It was in the year 1858 that the second war 
 between Great Britain and China was commenced. 
 Before its close in i860 the allied armies had laid 
 in smoking ruins the walls of the beautiful Sum- 
 mer Palace near Peking, the grand home of the 
 Chinese emperors. 
 
 Great was the commotion at the capital when 
 the tidings arrived that the foreign soldiers were 
 really on their way to the imperial city. 
 
 The news was brought to Peking by swift 
 couriers, and carried on from thence to the em- 
 peror’s residence. 
 
 Guards, who had been placed along the road 
 at short intervals within hearing of each other, 
 passed the alarming news from lip to lip till it 
 reached the palace in a wonderfully short space of 
 time. 
 
 It was immediately decided that the court 
 should at once take its departure for a country 
 residence of the emperor, distant about eight days’ 
 journey, and called by the name of Yeh-ho, or 
 Warm Streams. 
 
 There was no time for preparation, the whole 
 city was in confusion, and it was a motley throng 
 
TWO BOY-EMPERORS OF CHINA. 1 23 
 
 of strangely-attired attendants which followed in 
 the emperor’s train as he commenced his flight. 
 It was a weary journey they had to make, fording 
 streams and travelling over rough and uneven 
 ground. 
 
 Even the emperor had to endure many hard- 
 ships, for, in the alarm and confusion of starting, 
 no preparations had been made for the journey. 
 
 Every one rejoiced when the grand gates of 
 the palace of Yeh-ho came in sight. Situated in 
 the midst of fine pleasure-grounds adorned with 
 firs and cypress and many other trees, under 
 whose shade herds of deer and elk roamed unmo- 
 lested, it was a beautiful place of refuge; and yet 
 the Emperor Hien-Feng had only been induced 
 by urgent necessity to take up his abode there. 
 People said it was an unlucky residence for any 
 of his race, for his grandfather, the Emperor Chia- 
 Ching, had died there. 
 
 After some time of suspense news came to 
 Yeh-ho that the court might safely return to Pe- 
 king. But the reports of the doings of the “for- 
 eign barbarians ” filled their hearts with fear, and 
 the emperor decided to remain over the winter in 
 his quiet retreat. He never saw the ruins of his 
 fair Summer Palace, for he died at Yeh-ho before 
 the spring. 
 
 When he “ ascended the Dragon Throne 
 above, ’ ’ or was ‘ 1 received as a guest on high ’ ’ 
 (which is the way in which the Chinese speak of 
 
124 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 the death of their ruler), he left behind him a lit- 
 tle son, who was at the time only six years of age. 
 This little boy had been placed under the guard- 
 ianship of two empresses, who were both the wives 
 of his father. One was called the Empress of the 
 East and she was the greater lady: the other 
 was the child’s own mother, and she was called 
 the Western Empress. Chinese emperors are not 
 known by their own name; it would be thought 
 disrespectful to have that in common use; so a 
 title or reign name is selected for them when 
 they come to the throne. This little boy was 
 proclaimed emperor under a name which means 
 “Fortunate Union.” 
 
 It was soon discovered that many of the great 
 men of the empire were plotting to get rid of the 
 guardians of the little boy and take the manage- 
 ment of affairs into their own hands. 
 
 This conspiracy was discovered by the em- 
 presses, who, with the young emperor under their 
 care, left Yeh-ho and came to Peking. A clever 
 man, named Prince Rung, who was also one of 
 those who had charge of the little emperor, had 
 a number of these plotters put to death. On ac- 
 count of this affair the reign name was changed, 
 and it was afterwards known as Tung-chi, which 
 means “United Rule.” 
 
 The two imperial ladies who had charge of the 
 little boy are said to be very wise and clever wo- 
 men. This is, no doubt, true, or they would not 
 
PRINCE KUNG. 
 
 

TWO BOY-EMPERORS OF CHINA. 127 
 
 have kept for so long the reins of government 
 in their hands. 
 
 Some time ago, it is said, a high mandarin 
 tried to make mischief between the two ladies. 
 He used to fabricate complaints, which he said 
 each had made against the other. The two em- 
 presses compared notes, and so discovered the de- 
 signs of the courtier, and they immediately or- 
 dered him to swallow gold-leaf, which was only 
 a way of commanding him to pay the penalty of 
 his life for his foolish conduct. 
 
 In the year 1872 Tung-chi, who was then a 
 boy of sixteen, was married. Before the new 
 empress had been publicly announced, a large 
 number of girls from all the principal families in 
 the empire were ordered to be sent up to the pal- 
 ace, that the empresses might make a selection 
 from among them. 
 
 Rumor said that some time before the impe- 
 rial ladies had decided upon the girl who was to 
 be raised to this honor. Her name was Aluteh 
 and she was the daughter of a .member of the Im- 
 perial College known as Duke Chung. 
 
 The gossips of Peking said that the friends of 
 Aluteh would gladly have guarded her against 
 the perilous honor which they feared might await 
 her, for she was a girl of singular beauty and in- 
 telligence. It was said that so determined were 
 they to do all in their power to prevent the choice 
 falling upon her that they placed rolls of wadding 
 
128 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 about lier shoulders, beneath her dress, to give her 
 the appearance of being deformed. 
 
 But the empresses were too clever for the anx- 
 ious parents, for, having fixed upon her as the 
 bride, they issued a notification to the effect that 
 although the youthful empress had been deformed, 
 the court physician had been able, with much 
 skill, to remove the protuberances from her back, 
 and she was now so straight and graceful that it 
 was evidently the will of heaven that she should 
 be promoted to the high position of empress. 
 
 The young lady who was thus exalted had 
 little of happiness in her short life, though much 
 grandeur attended the wedding ceremonies. On 
 the day before the marriage three princes were 
 appointed by the young emperor to go and burn 
 incense, offering sacrifices at the temple, and in- 
 forming heaven of the important event about to 
 take place. Two other princes were also deputed 
 to go on similar errands. One had to convey the 
 news to Mother Earth, and the other to pay a visit 
 to the temple of the emperor’s ancestors, carrying 
 the news to them. Less than two years after the 
 wedding it was announced that the young em- 
 peror had “met with the joy of having the small- 
 pox,” for that disease, though very prevalent in 
 China, is looked upon as a mark of heaven’s 
 special favor. 
 
 A few days after, the news of the emperor’s 
 sickness was succeeded by tidings of his death, and 
 
TWO BOY-EMPERORS OF CHINA. 1 29 
 
 his young wife was shortly after reported to have 
 died of grief. Some said, however, that the Dow- 
 ager Empresses had commanded her to put an end 
 to her life at once, and that she had starved her- 
 self in obedience to their order. 
 
 It was necessary immediately to select a new 
 emperor, and, according to Chinese ideas, he could 
 not be of an older generation than the young 
 Tung-chi, though several of his uncles were still 
 living. For the peace of the empire the dead 
 ruler’s spirit must be regularly worshipped and 
 have sacrifices offered to it, and this could only 
 be done by the same generation as himself. 
 
 The council of the imperial family met at 
 night within one of the palace chambers, and 
 they decided that a little boy, about three and a 
 half years of age, should be chosen emperor. 
 The child was the son of Prince Chung, the sev- 
 enth son of the Emperor Tau-Kwang, and the 
 brother of Hien-Feng. 
 
 The little emperor was sent for immediately, 
 and placed in the midst of his uncles, who all did 
 homage to him. The first consequence of the act 
 by which the baby boy Tsai-tien was changed into 
 the Emperor Kwang-Su, or “Illustrious Suc- 
 cessor,” was the retirement of his father from 
 public life, since, according to Chinese ideas, it 
 was quite impossible for a father to do homage to 
 his own son. But even this matter had to be ar- 
 ranged in a very roundabout way. 
 
130 home-life in china. 
 
 The emperor’s father sent np a memorial to 
 the two Dowager Empresses — for those ladies now 
 undertook the care of Kwang-Su, as they had pre- 
 viously done of his predecessor. 
 
 Prince Chung described the agony of grief 
 into which he was thrown when called upon to 
 gaze upon the features of the departed emperor. 
 But he was even more overwhelmed by the news 
 that his own son had been chosen to succeed to 
 the throne. He was carried home as one bereft 
 of reason, he was attacked by many diseases, and 
 begged to be allowed to spend the remnant of his 
 miserable life in the seclusion of his own home, 
 entreating the empresses to withdraw his double 
 allowance as an imperial prince. 
 
 This memorial seemed quite correct and prop- 
 er to the educated Chinese, and appeared in the 
 pages of the court newspaper. 
 
 References to the little emperor’s education 
 and training may often be found in the pages of the 
 “Peking Gazette,” and are also frequently floating 
 about like the common rumors of other courts. 
 Kwang-Su is described as a delicate little lad, thin 
 and pale, since it is said he is often called up in 
 the middle of the night when state business is in 
 progress, so as to be trained to official etiquette 
 and the management of affairs of state. 
 
 Poor little fellow ! doubtless he sometimes 
 wishes he were not an emperor at all, but could 
 sleep at night like other boys. 
 
'TWO BOY-EMPERORS OF CHINA. 131 
 
 111 one matter some boys may think he is 
 rather fortunate. Some time ago, in the pages of 
 the ‘ ‘Peking Gazette, ’ ’ the appointment of a ‘ ‘whip- 
 ping boy > ’ was announced — that is, a little fellow 
 whose duty it was to receive all the punishments 
 which might be deserved by the little emperor 
 when he committed a fault. He stood, indeed, 
 in the same relation to Kwang-Su as we are in- 
 formed by the author of “Waverley” Sir Mungo 
 Malagrowther did to the son of Mary Queen of 
 Scots. I11 the same paper there may sometimes 
 be found mention of some curious presents which 
 have been received by the child-ruler. Not long 
 since there was the following announcement : 
 “The horse which was presented to Us by Poy- 
 ennamoku was quiet and steady when We rode it. 
 Let it, therefore, be called ‘The Pearl that flies 
 like a bird.’” From a place far off in Mongolia 
 they send the little emperor every year two cases 
 of jam, of which I suppose he is very fond, since a 
 few years ago the people sent many apologies be- 
 cause the season had been so cold that the fruit 
 would not ripen, and no jam could be had. 
 
 Poor little Chinese emperor, shut up in his 
 grand palace, taught always to act with great 
 gravity, according to the rules of court etiquette — 
 most of our boys and girls, however humble their 
 homes and surroundings, are doubtless much hap- 
 pier than he! 
 
132 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CHINESE FESTIVALS AND HOLIDAYS. 
 
 RAT-TAT-TAT ! Bang — bang ! On all sides there 
 were such strange noises that one might have im- 
 agined a volley of artillery was being exploded. 
 These were the sounds that awoke me at the hour 
 of midnight when I had been only two days a 
 dweller in the Celestial Empire. What could be 
 the matter? Were the inhabitants of the far- 
 famed mart of Hankow turning out en masse to 
 hold the fort against some attacking enemy ? 
 
 It was nothing very serious after all, for I soon 
 found that the cannonading which was deafening 
 my ears was nothing more than the continuous 
 letting off of fireworks to frighten away the spirits 
 of evil which it was feared might be prowling 
 around on New Year’s morning. 
 
 It was the dawn of the greatest festival of 
 the Chinese year, and the people had for days 
 past been making the most extensive preparations 
 to celebrate it. It had been a time of general 
 housecleaning everywhere. New charms and 
 scrolls had been bought to decorate and protect 
 each home. New clothes had been purchased or 
 taken out of pawn, and nearly everybody looked 
 
CHINESE FESTIVALS AND HOLIDAYS. 1 33 
 
 smiling and good-tempered, since the great holi- 
 day of the year was at hand. 
 
 There is no weekly day of rest in China; the 
 shops are open and the streets full of eager buyers 
 and sellers every day alike. When the missiona- 
 ries go through the streets to the Christian chapels 
 on the Sabbath day, they are often saddened as 
 they pass through the midst of these busy crowds. 
 The multitudes of those who are bowing down to 
 gods of wood and stone are so great they seem for 
 a time to blot out the encouraging thought of the 
 ‘ ‘ little flock ’ ’ which is being gathered out of the 
 midst of these Chinese cities — men and women, 
 and even little children, who have heard the glad 
 tidings of Jesus’ love and are trying to follow in 
 His footsteps. 
 
 A month in China commences with a new 
 moon, and so New Year’s Day is not on the first 
 of January, as with us, but very frequently quite 
 at the end of our first month, or even as late as 
 the second or third week of February. 
 
 Very few Chinamen ever think of retiring to 
 rest on New Year’s eve. They have an idea that 
 watching for the dawn of New Year’s morning 
 several years in succession will insure to them 
 long life. Kven the children of Chinese families 
 usually sit up, as we say, to see the New Year in, 
 but they call it u to round the year. ’ ’ In some 
 parts a few faggots of pine wood are lighted in a 
 
 space before the stand upon which the ancestral 
 
 8 
 
134 HOME-UFB IN CHINA. 
 
 tablets are placed. The boys and girls greatly 
 enjoy the fun of exploding crackers and throwing 
 handfuls of salt upon the flames. The crackling 
 sound made by the burning salt is thought to be 
 an omen of £Ood. 
 
 Santa Claus in not known to Chinese juven- 
 iles, but late on New Year’s eve it is common for 
 the head of a family to present the children and 
 servants of the household with some copper cash 
 strung on a scarlet cord, since it is considered un- 
 lucky to begin the year with an empty purse. 
 
 The last night of the old year is always a busy 
 time with trades-people in China, for every one is 
 expected to pay the debts contracted during the 
 year. If it is not possible to discharge them in 
 full, they must at any rate pay off a considerable 
 portion of them before the new year dawns. When 
 once the great day arrives, nothing but peace and 
 good-will is supposed to reign, and if a man is still 
 in debt, his creditor is not expected to press his 
 claim again till some months at least have passed. 
 
 As all shops will be closed for several days, it 
 is necessary that every family should lay in a 
 good stock of provisions. It used to be the cus- 
 tom for most shops to be closed for a fortnight; 
 and the lovers of old customs often bemoan the 
 fact that year after year shops are being opened 
 earlier, and the necessaries of life can be readily 
 bought when the year is four or five days old. 
 The longer a tradesman keeps his shop closed the 
 
STREET BEGGAR 
 

CHINESE FESTIVALS AND HOLIDAYS. 1 37 
 
 more respectable be is considered by bis neigh- 
 bors. 
 
 The first ceremony which a Chinaman per- 
 forms when the hour of midnight has passed and 
 the new year has been entered, is to worship be- 
 fore the spirit-tablets of his ancestors and at the 
 shrine of the household gods. After this the whole 
 family go out of the front-door of the house, while 
 the women and servants of the household lift up 
 lamps or torches to give them light. They then 
 bow down and do reverence towards a part of the 
 heavens which has been indicated in the almanac. 
 This is commonly spoken of as the worship of 
 heaven and earth, though it is described in the 
 almanac as the ceremony of receiving the spirit 
 of gladness or good fortune, which it has been 
 ascertained will come out of that quarter of the 
 heavens. 
 
 This is considered by a Chinaman the most 
 important moment of the year. He has a terrible 
 dread lest his u first foot,” as they say in Scotland, 
 should be a person who will bring him ill-fortune — 
 a shaven priest, for instance. The first words he 
 hears too have a fearful significance to him, should 
 they unfortunately refer to fire, shipwreck, loss of 
 office, failure in business, an evil spirit, a ser- 
 pent, sickness, separation, or death. And not only 
 the words themselves significant of these things 
 are unlucky, but other words with quite a dif- 
 ferent meaning but a similar sound to the unfor- 
 
HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 133 
 
 tunate phrases. O11 the other hand, if some words 
 relating to prosperity and gladness are the first 
 that greet his ear, the Chinaman’s heart is filled 
 with joy, and he thinks he may reasonably antici- 
 pate a happy New Year. Going out into the 
 streets in the early morning of this great holiday, 
 we should find them strewn with the crimson paper 
 of exploded crackers. These fireworks are believ- 
 ed to be very effectual in driving away evil spirits. 
 It is said that the original idea in their manufac- 
 ture was to imitate the crackling sound of burning 
 bamboos, wdiich were once used for the same pur- 
 pose. Beggars always throng the streets at this 
 time, and reap a large harvest, since no one cares 
 to refuse to give them a trifle, lest they should 
 have to begin the year with a curse, even if it be 
 only from a beggar’s lips. Many rich men give 
 very liberally at this great festival ; tickets for rice 
 are widely distributed, and sums of money, fre- 
 quently given anonymously, are sent to the fami- 
 lies of the very poor. 
 
 The front-doors of most of the houses are usu- 
 ally decorated with new “men shin,” or door 
 spirits, on New Year’s morning. These are gaudi- 
 ly-colored pictures of two generals of past ages. 
 It is said that the emperor who was at that time 
 reigning in China had a dream in which he was 
 informed that evil spirits were attempting to in- 
 vade his palace. To prevent their entrance, he 
 commanded two of his bravest warriors to keep 
 
CHINESE FESTIVALS AND HOLIDAYS. 1 39 
 
 guard at the palace gates. The spirits, frightened 
 by their warlike appearance, were afraid to enter, 
 and since the death of these famous generals it is 
 said their pictures have been found to be equally 
 efficacious. These pictures remain upon the doors 
 all through the year, though the beating of the 
 wind and rain upon them often leaves little but 
 dilapidated fragments when the last month comes. 
 
 Above the doors a bunch of cypress, together 
 with some sheets of mock money and gold and 
 silver paper ingots, is hung, and doorways are 
 often decorated with fringes of scarlet paper fanci- 
 fully cut out, having fastened upon it the charac- 
 ter which stands for happiness. Strips of scarlet 
 paper as scrolls are also used to decorate the in- 
 terior of the houses, the motto written upon them 
 having always some fortunate meaning. 
 
 On New Year’s morning when a Chinaman 
 meets a friend he clasps his own hands and, mov- 
 ing them up and down before him, incased in his 
 long sleeves, bows low and repeats the words, 
 
 ‘ ‘ Kung-she, kung-she, ” or, u I congratulate you, ’ ’ 
 which is equivalent to our phrase, ‘ ‘ I wish you a 
 happy New Year.” 
 
 Many people do not make ceremonious calls 
 on New Year’s day, but defer them till a day or 
 two later. Not a few, wearied out with the vigil 
 and ceremonies of the night, spend the day in rest 
 and quiet. Only here and there you hear the 
 sounds that seem to be so musical to Chinese ears, 
 
140 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 the banging of gongs or cymbals, or the squeak- 
 ing of a Chinese flute. Every one who is abroad 
 is dressed in his best clothing; the children are 
 perfectly gorgeous in their coats of many colors, 
 while the shoes, caps, and collars of the babies are 
 all decorated with many-colored embroidery. As 
 the weather is cold, all the garments are wadded, 
 and the children look like so many round balls, 
 or, when a little older, something like bolsters. 
 We begin to wonder sometimes where all the 
 grand apparel has been kept all the year; and at 
 this season foreigners are not unfrequently puzzled 
 by the arrival, among other visitors, of a gentle- 
 man who, to a new-comer, would doubtless appear 
 to be moving in a high position in society. There 
 is probably something familiar about the features 
 of the visitor who thus calls to offer his congratu- 
 lations. The mystery is explained when the for- 
 eigner is informed that the gorgeously-attired 
 gentleman is Mr. So-and-so’s cook, or some work- 
 man whom he has employed during the year. 
 
 Feasting, visiting, gambling, and seeing the- 
 atrical performances are some of the amusements 
 of the season. Nearly every evening fireworks 
 are let off in great quantities. On the fourth day 
 of the month preparations are made for receiving 
 back again the god of the kitchen, who, it is sup- 
 posed, has been absent, spending his New Year’s 
 holidays in the invisible regions, since the twenty- 
 fourth of the twelfth month. He is believed to 
 
CHINESE FESTIVALS AND HOLIDAYS. 141 
 
 have carried thither a report of the conduct of the 
 family during the past year. A paper horse and 
 various other things necessary for his journey are 
 usually burned by the household on the evening 
 of his supposed departure. Throughout the 
 whole of the New Year’s festivities idolatrous 
 worship, either of spirits or of gods, is so inter- 
 mixed with social customs as to make that season 
 a very trying one to Chinese Christians. They 
 are always unmercifully persecuted by their heath- 
 en friends when they refuse to take part in idola- 
 trous ceremonies. One boy I knew was so con- 
 vinced that it was wrong to worship the false 
 gods or to bow before the ancestral tablets that he 
 begged his father to excuse him from it. When 
 the man knew his son had been hearing of the 
 true God in the Glad Tidings Hall of the neigh- 
 boring city his anger knew no bounds. He 
 stripped the boy of all his outer clothing, and, 
 after giving him a severe beating, sent him out 
 into the streets. 
 
 Not unfrequently at this season some of the 
 gods are taken out for a ride in sedan-chairs. It 
 is believed that the families residing in the streets 
 along which they pass will be free from sickness 
 and pestilence during the year. 
 
 The fifteenth of the first moon brings with it 
 the great u Feast of Lanterns,” when the city is 
 illuminated with lanterns suspended on long poles 
 from the roofs of the houses. The scene seems 
 
142 
 
 home-life in china. 
 
 changed into a city of fairy-land, for even the 
 poorest families put out a lantern above the roof 
 of their cottage. They do not burn long, and one 
 after another the lights die out; but the revelry in 
 the houses and the frequent explosion of fireworks 
 continue until far on into the night. On the 
 evening of the “Feast of Lanterns” more wo- 
 men are seen upon the streets than at other times, 
 custom allowing them to come out and witness 
 the grand illumination. 
 
 I have spoken first of the New Year’s festi- 
 vals, since they are by far the most important. 
 There is another, however, which often precedes 
 it, according to our reckoning of time, while in 
 the Chinese calendar it is often oddly arranged 
 that the festival of “Welcoming the Spring” oc- 
 curs in the last month of the year. The great 
 feature in the procession, which is formed in hon- 
 or of the day, is a life-size figure of a water buffa- 
 lo, the common domestic animal of China. The 
 framework is composed of bamboo splints, cov- 
 ered with paper of various colors. The sheets 
 are said to be pasted on either by a blind man or 
 under the direction of a fortune-teller, and are be- 
 lieved to predict the weather of the year, and also 
 to give curious information on various other sub- 
 jects. If there is much white paper, rains and 
 floods are expected to prevail over the land ; if 
 red predominates, there will be many fires and 
 the summer will prove unusually hot. Yellow 
 
CHINESE FESTIVALS AND HOLIDAYS. 1 43 
 
 indicates plentiful harvests, and a favorable year 
 is thus predicted. 
 
 The ceremony of “receiving the spring” 
 takes place outside the east gate of the city, 
 since it is from the east that spring is supposed 
 to come. An altar is usually erected before the 
 figure of the buffalo and the god of the land and 
 grain; then the prefect of the city and other 
 mandarins, attired in their richest robes, do rev- 
 erence before them. The same evening the pa- 
 per buffalo is broken up into fragments, and the 
 man who succeeds in obtaining a portion of it 
 fancies that in consequence his own buffalo will 
 prosper during the year. 
 
 The next great festival occurs in the bright 
 spring-tide of the year, when the country is fra- 
 grant with the sweet scent of the bean-flower and 
 the willows and graceful bamboos are looking love- 
 ly in their fresh foliage. Schoolboys at this time 
 receive a few days’ vacation in order that they 
 may take part in this festival, which, like all 
 Chinese holidays, has a religious signification. 
 It is known as Tsing-Ming, and is the festival of 
 the tombs. At this time every Chinaman visits 
 the graves of his ancestors, burning incense and 
 paper money and offering sacrifices there. So 
 universal is this custom that if these ceremonies 
 are neglected for three years in succession, or, at 
 any rate, if for that period the sheets of paper 
 money, kept in place by stones or a heap of earth, 
 
• i 4 4 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 are not seen upon the graves, the land is liable to 
 be taken possession of by its original owners and 
 the plot sold to another family. Chinese bury- 
 ing-grounds are always outside the walls of their 
 cities. It is an impressive sight to see the innu- 
 merable mounds of earth, many of them un- 
 marked by tree or stone, others with a small slab 
 at the head bearing the name and date of death 
 of the departed. The tombs of the wealthier fam- 
 ilies are usually on some hillside, on a spot spe- 
 cially chosen by geomancers; but I am speaking 
 of the graves of the common people. They 
 stretch away over the grassy plains farther than 
 the eye can reach, till it sometimes seems as if 
 the cities of the dead in China were even more 
 densely crowded than the cities of the living. 
 
 A day is always fixed in the u Imperial Calen- 
 dar” for the commencement of this festival, which 
 is sometimes spoken of as the “ Sweeping of the 
 Graves;” but the actual visit to the tombs can be 
 made either a few days before or after, to suit the 
 convenience of the families. Before the cere- 
 monies commence some members of the family 
 put in order the little plot of ground, pulling up 
 the weeds and tall rank grass which have grown 
 wild above it. Whole families come out and 
 take part in the service, women and children as 
 well as men. They carry with them little basins 
 containing various kinds of food, such as fish and 
 fowl, pork, and cakes of different kinds. These, 
 
CHINESE FESTIVALS AND HOLIDAYS. 145 
 
 with cups of wine, are ranged in order before the 
 grave, and, candles and incense having been 
 lighted, one by one the men and boys of the fam- 
 ily, according to age, stand up, reverently bow- 
 ing and knocking their heads to the ground. 
 After this a large quantity of paper money is 
 burned to supply the spirits with pocket-money 
 for their various needs, and then a number of 
 crackers are exploded. Offerings are then made 
 to the god who is supposed to be in charge of that 
 part of the country, and food is also arranged at a 
 little distance from the graves and offered to the 
 beggar spirits, which are supposed to be as nu- 
 merous in the spirit- world as in the streets of 
 Chinese cities. Whenever departed spirits re- 
 ceive a large offering from their descendants it is 
 considered certain that the beggar spirits will be- 
 have as they would do in this world, and so by 
 their demands for charity disturb the relatives of 
 the worshippers and prevent them from enjoying 
 their feast in peace. Therefore the beggars re- 
 ceive an offering as well as the friends, and in 
 this way it is believed all are satisfied. 
 
 Standing by one of these graves one day at 
 this festival on a bright spring evening, I saw a • 
 family going through these ceremonies and a 
 very little boy was with them. He watched his 
 elders carefully, and then was put up to clasp his 
 small hands and do reverence also. When the 
 worship was over we began to talk to the little 
 
146 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 company. “Why do you let a child so small 
 take part in this service?” we asked, looking at 
 the little fellow, who seemed greatly to enjoy the 
 burning of the paper and exploding of the crack- 
 ers. The father, a grave, courteous Chinaman, 
 replied, “We bring them thus early to teach 
 them their duty, so that when they grow older 
 they may never neglect to worship at the tombs, 
 and will attend to our wants when we have passed 
 into the spirit- world.” 
 
 Upon returning home the people carry with 
 them small branches of trees, slips of firs, or 
 boughs of wild azaleas. These sprays of greenery 
 are usually placed in a vase before the spirit-tab- 
 lets in the home of the family. To some of the 
 poor people living in the towns this is their only 
 day in the country during the year. 
 
 Over the doors of the houses, during the time 
 of this festival, a willow-branch is usually sus- 
 pended. It is believed to be useful in attracting 
 the spirits of the dead to come and partake of the 
 essence of food prepared for them and placed be- 
 fore the ancestral tablets as well as at the graves. 
 It is also believed that not only the spirits of the 
 dead, but a large number of evil spirits, are set 
 free to visit the earth at this feast, and the wil- 
 low-branch, while it attracts the spirits related to 
 the family, frightens away any that are not wel- 
 come. 
 
 The festival which ranks next in a Chinese 
 
CHINESE FESTIVALS AND HOLIDAYS. 147 
 
 boy’s estimation to the grand New Year’s holi- 
 day is the “Feast of the Dragon-Boats.” It is 
 sometimes spoken of as the “Children’s Festival.” 
 The great feature in the festivities is the racing 
 of the dragon-boats, of which, in populous cities, 
 there are twenty or more. These boats are long 
 and narrow, and will carry from ten to thirty 
 men. The body and stern are gayly painted, and 
 the bow is shaped like the raised head of a dragon 
 with gaping jaws. A large drum is placed in the 
 centre of the boat and much noise is made by 
 beating gongs. A boy sitting up on the dragon’s 
 head directs the movements of the rowers with a 
 flag which he holds in his hands. 
 
 Crowds of people assemble on the river-banks 
 to watch the boats and the racing. The success- 
 ful crews receive prizes, and much jealousy is ex- 
 cited, and quarrels and fights often conclude the 
 day’s performances. Accidents not unfrequently 
 occur from the boats coming into collision with 
 each other. 
 
 This grand Chinese holiday had its origin in 
 an event which occurred about s°° B. C. At 
 that time there lived a very wise and prudent 
 minister of state whose name was Ken Yuen. 
 The prince he served was a man of violent tem- 
 per and bad character, and when petitioned by 
 his minister to introduce some reforms into the 
 government of the country, he degraded and at 
 last dismissed him. Unable to survive the dis- 
 
148 
 
 home-life in china. 
 
 grace he had sustained, Ken Yuen flung himself 
 into the river and thus put an end to his life. 
 Some fishermen who saw him disappear searched 
 diligently for his body, but it was not found. 
 Ever since, upon the anniversary of the death of 
 this honest official, boats have gone out casting 
 offerings on the river for the spirit of the departed, 
 and going through the ceremony of searching for 
 his body. 
 
 On one occasion, it is said, the holiday-making 
 worshippers were surprised by the appearance of 
 Ken Yuen himself, who complained that the 
 offerings intended for him were always stolen by 
 an enormous reptile that made its home in the 
 waters. Since that time the dragon-boats have 
 been used at this festival, with the idea of fright- 
 ening away the reptile of which Ken Yuen com- 
 plained. 
 
 In the eighth month of the year the “-Festival 
 of the Moon” is held; it is sometimes called the 
 u Feast of Rewarding the Moon.” 
 
 Chinese children do not talk of the “man in 
 the moon,” but they say there is a rabbit there 
 engaged in pounding rice, or, some say, medi- 
 cines. 
 
 At this feast everybody eats moon-cakes, which 
 can be obtained in great variety. Most of them 
 are round like the moon, but they have curious 
 figures on them, such as fishes and animals, 
 among them the mythical rabbit. Some are 
 
CHINESE FESTIVALS AND HOLIDAYS. 149 
 
 painted with spots of bright color, and others 
 adorned with gold-leaf. 
 
 The worship of the moon is one of great an- 
 tiquity in all nations. The prophet Jeremiah 
 refers to the worship of the Queen of Heaven in 
 his day, and to the incense that was burned and 
 the cakes that were offered before her. 
 
 The Chinese say that their festival has an 
 historical origin. The story they tell is as fol- 
 lows: One evening the Emperor Ming Wong was 
 walking in his palace grounds accompanied by 
 some of his priestly advisers. The conversation 
 turned upon the question, u Is the moon in- 
 habited, or not?” The tutor of the young prince 
 replied by asking him if he would like to pay a 
 visit to it and see. He answered in the affirma- 
 tive. The priest then threw his staff into the air, 
 and it became a bridge over which he and his 
 pupil passed to the brilliant luminary. They 
 found it inhabited by beautiful women who lived 
 in magificent palaces surrounded by charming 
 gardens. The prince would fain have lingered 
 amid these scenes of loveliness, but was called 
 upon by his tutor to depart. On their way to 
 earth the priest asked his pupil to play upon his 
 lute which he carried with him, and of which 
 he was very fond. They were just drawing 
 near to the city of Nanking, and hearing what 
 they concluded was celestial music, the inhabi- 
 tants rushed to the roofs of their houses. The 
 
HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 I 5° 
 
 prince, advised by his companion, showered down 
 upon the people the cash he carried with him. 
 
 Upon his return to his palace the prince was 
 inclined to fancy all his adventures had been un- 
 dertaken in the land of dreams, when a memorial 
 was received from the Governor-general of the 
 province over which he had passed, telling a story 
 of wonderful music and showers of cash which 
 had been heard and seen by the inhabitants of 
 that district on the fifteenth of the eighth month. 
 
 Of course the emperor was convinced that his 
 trip to the moon was a reality, and ordered that 
 henceforth the people should set apart the day on 
 which he made his wonderful journey as a time 
 of general rejoicing — a festival in honor of the 
 moon. 
 
 NEW YEAR’S MODE OF SALUTATION. 
 
IDOLATRY AND SUPERSTITIONS. 
 
 !5 X 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 IDOLATRY AND SUPERSTITIONS. 
 
 “How do Chinese children learn to worship 
 idols?” I can imagine you asking. 
 
 Come with me and I will take you to one of 
 their great gloomy temples. 
 
 Not on a Sabbath, for there is no day of rest 
 in China, but either on the first or fifteenth of the 
 month, for these are the dates upon which people 
 usually visit the temples. 
 
 We must go up the flight of wide stone steps 
 at the entrance, and as we enter we shall see two 
 tall images with very ugly faces and brilliantly- 
 painted coats, which are called “Guardians of 
 the Gate.” 
 
 Walking on into the temple, which looks dull 
 and shadowy in the dim light, we shall come to 
 the shrine of the great idol in whose honor the 
 temple was built. A number of other images are 
 ranged around it; they are the servants of the god, 
 and large rings of incense are burning before it. 
 
 In some temples Buddhist priests sit in rows 
 repeating in a sort of chant words of prayer which 
 they do not understand at all, since they are in 
 another language. See the mothers bringing their 
 little children forward and teaching them to clasp 
 
 9 
 
152 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 their hands and bow down, knocking their heads 
 to the ground as they worship the senseless idol ! 
 If it is the first time, the children are afraid, and 
 sometimes say, ‘ ‘ I can’ t do it ; I never shall do 
 it.” Then they watch closely while their mothers 
 once more show them how it is done. Afterwards 
 they are sometimes rewarded with little presents, 
 which they are told have been given to them by 
 the idol. But if they are terrified and afraid to 
 worship, they are told stories of the terrible things 
 that happen to people who do not ask the protec- 
 tion of the ugly idols. 
 
 Nearly all the gods in whose honor Chinese 
 temples are erected are the images of people who 
 lived in India or China hundreds or thousands of 
 years ago, and have since been deified and are 
 worshipped. It is the same as if in England peo- 
 ple were to bow down before images of King Al- 
 fred, Shakespeare, Lord Nelson, or the Duke of 
 Wellington. 
 
 Sometimes, soon after children have been wor- 
 shipping at a temple, they will fall ill, or some 
 accident will happen to them. Then the parents 
 immediately fancy the child has offended the god, 
 and do all they can to make it forget its anger. 
 
 One night, when we were coming home from 
 our week-night sendee in the city of Wuchang, 
 we passed a temple brightly lighted up. It had 
 been built in honor of the god of the land and 
 grain. It is unusual to see people worshipping 
 
IDOLATRY AND SUPERSTITIONS. 1 55 
 
 at a temple late in the evening, and we turned 
 aside to look at the people bending there. Two 
 men were very devoutly burning incense and pa- 
 per money, and their faces were very sad. When 
 they had finished and were preparing to leave we 
 asked why they had come to the temple at so late 
 an hour. The elder of the two men turned to- 
 wards us a very anxious face, and replied, “It is 
 just three days now since I with my only son 
 came here to worship. On the way home my 
 little boy had a serious fall which has injured him 
 severely. He is now very ill, and I fear he may 
 not recover. I feel sure he must in some way 
 have offended the god, and so I have brought 
 large quantities of paper money and am sacri- 
 ficing at this shrine, hoping that his anger may 
 be turned away, and then my child will recover.” 
 
 How thankful we were to be able to do some- 
 thing to comfort the poor idol- worshipper ! We 
 told him of a Father in heaven who loves all his 
 children, and who alone could make the little boy 
 well again. 
 
 Let me take you to one or two more of the 
 many temples in this city in which I have been 
 living. Quite near to the Mission House is one 
 in connection with a large printing establishment. 
 It contains an immense gilt figure of Buddha, 
 who, they say, leads people to the western heaven. 
 Before this enormous figure you may often see 
 offerings of flowers and rice placed. A large num- 
 
I56 HOME-LIKE IN CHINA. 
 
 ber of Buddhist priests live in the monastery ad- 
 joining this temple. They dress in long loose 
 yellow robes, and their heads, being shaven, are 
 quite bald. They may not eat meat, but live 
 solely upon vegetables and rice. The gong is 
 sounding for their mid-day meal. The abbot sits 
 on a dais in the centre of the refectory, and the 
 priests are ranged in rows on each side of him. 
 There are about sixty monks living in this place. 
 Before they take their meal they sing or chant a 
 grace, but they do not understand the words they 
 sing. A little of the food is then placed as an 
 offering on a stone slab just outside the door. 
 They eat their meal in perfect silence. When all 
 have finished, and the chop-sticks are placed in 
 order by the side of the blue basins, the gong is 
 again struck, and the priests file out silently one 
 by one. 
 
 Buddhists think it an act of very great merit 
 to preserve the life of any animal, and frequently 
 when people come to worship at these temples 
 they make a vow that they will preserve the life 
 of some living creature. So one frequently sees 
 in Buddhist temples fowls, ducks, and geese, or 
 pigs and sheep, and also a pond filled with fish 
 which have been rescued from the tanks in which 
 they are exposed for sale by the fishmongers. At 
 one temple I once saw a very ancient pig. The 
 priest said it was a hundred years old, which 
 was of course untrue. But it must have been 
 
IDOLATRY AND SUPERSTITIONS. I.57 
 
 quite venerable for a pig, and was sucb a deplora- 
 ble-looking object that the next time I was there 
 I was not sorry to hear that the pig was dead. 
 Some people make a vow to release a large num- 
 ber of sparrows. These birds are kept — a large 
 number together — in cages hanging outside the 
 poulterers’ shops; people buy twenty or thirty of 
 them for the purpose of setting them free. 
 
 Just outside the east gate of the city of Wu- 
 chang there is a celebrated temple known as the 
 Temple of Hades, and the god who is supposed to 
 rule in the unseen regions is worshipped there. 
 The first figure that would attract your notice is 
 one far above life-size, with a black beard and 
 flowing white robes, wearing a tall conical hat, 
 with an umbrella over his shoulder. In his hand 
 he holds the end of a chain, which is fastened 
 round the representation of the wasted form of a 
 dying man, and he is supposed to be dragging 
 him along to judgment. When you ask a China- 
 man what he thinks will happen to him when he 
 dies, a common answer is, “Oh, Wutsang will 
 come for me, I suppose. ’ ’ 
 
 The little burial-ground belonging to the Chi- 
 nese Christians is just outside the grim walls of 
 this temple. Sometimes when we have gathered 
 round the grave-side, to hold a short service be- 
 fore committing to the earth the remains of some 
 departed Christian, crowds from the heathen tem- 
 ple have come and joined us. How strange the 
 
HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 glad words of triumphant faith sounded to them ! 
 They know nothing of a bright hope beyond the 
 grave, a rest “prepared for the people of God.” 
 
 At both sides of this Temple of Hades are some 
 terrible groups of figures which are too frightful 
 for me to describe to you in detail. I only men- 
 tion them at all that you may see how sad and 
 hopeless is the heathen faith from which we are 
 seeking to win these people. These groups rep- 
 resent persons being judged for their sins, and 
 some are enduring the punishments of the Buddh- 
 ist hell. Here you see the figure of a man stand- 
 ing before the judges of the unseen world. He is 
 on a raised platform, and a mirror is hung before 
 him in which he will see reflected the form he is 
 to assume when born into the world again. The 
 man is starting back in horror as he sees the figure 
 of an ox reflected there. 
 
 But before this second birth they believe he 
 has to endure many fearful tortures, and in suc- 
 cessive groups we see him surrounded by demons 
 who are engaged in tormenting him. He is 
 thrown on a hill of knives, sawn asunder, tied to 
 a pillar heated red-hot, boiled in oil, and pounded 
 in a mortar. Before he is born into the world 
 again he must drink of the tea of forgetfulness, 
 which is represented as being sold by two old 
 women who sit at the gates of Hades. This tea, 
 they say, makes men lose all remembrance of 
 their former lives on earth. 
 
IDOLATRY AND SUPERSTITIONS. 159 
 
 At the feet of the tall image with the chain 
 there are always heaps of shoes lying — offerings 
 from people who believe the idol has listened to 
 their entreaties and spared the lives of their 
 friends. Here is a baby boy’s tiny slipper, and 
 there the shoe of a grown-up man. Oh, how sad 
 it makes one to go into these places and see peo- 
 ple trusting in these useless idols ! Sometimes I 
 have seen men kneeling before these shrines plead- 
 ing very earnestly. One, I remember, was asking 
 that his life might long be spared; and another, 
 who was troubled with asthma, prayed that when 
 the time came for Wutsang to drag him away he 
 would remember how short his breath was, and 
 walk slowly. 
 
 Another famous temple is the Yellow Stork 
 Tower, a low pagoda, to which the following 
 story is attached : Long, long ago there lived in 
 this city of Wuchang a man named Shin, who 
 was in business as a wine-merchant. Now it hap- 
 pened that among the occasional frequenters of 
 this house was a man whose name was Lu-Tsou. 
 To this customer Mr. Shin had always shown 
 much kindness, treating him as an intimate 
 friend, and never being at all particular about 
 the payment of the wine account. The thought 
 had never entered the wine-merchant’s head that 
 the person he was treating so hospitably was other 
 than an ordinary mortal, till one day Lu-Tsou, as 
 a token of gratitude for the kindness he had re- 
 
HOME-LIFE IN CHINA 
 
 160 
 
 THE YELLOW STORK TOWER. 
 
 ceived, turned the water of a well in Mr. Shin’s 
 garden into wine. At the same time he took an 
 orange, and dividing it into four quarters, mur- 
 mured over it some potent charm, and immedi- 
 ately it was changed into a stork, and settled upon 
 a high pole in the wine-merchant’s garden. The 
 fame of the w T onderful stork and the delicately- 
 flavored wine spread through the city, and cus- 
 tomers thronged Mr. Shin’s house till he became 
 
WUCHANG 
 
IDOLATRY AND SUPERSTITIONS. 163 
 
 so wealthy that, in gratitude to his benefactor, he 
 determined to build in his honor a fine temple, or 
 three-storied pagoda. It stands there to-day, and 
 from its upper story a fine view is obtained of the 
 surrounding country. The broad stream of the 
 magnificent Yang-tse-kiang flows past it. On the 
 farther shore are the craggy slopes of the Han- 
 yang hill, crowned with its white-walled temple, 
 while the thickly -populated mart of Hankow 
 stretches away at its foot. From the opposite 
 side of the tower we look out upon the grand pro- 
 vincial city, which is cut into three portions by 
 low green hills, while the dwellings of the city 
 lie crowded together in the valleys. Here and 
 there the scene is relieved by the queer curled 
 eaves of some temples or guilds or the walled 
 gardens of some official’s residence. 
 
 This Yellow Stork Tower, with the temples 
 rising up one behind another in its rear, forms the 
 principal recreation ground of the city. The 
 lower story of the tower is always thronged with 
 fortune-tellers and gambling-tables. 
 
 A Tauist priest stands at the foot of the wind- 
 ing staircase and begs a few cash of each visitor. 
 Crowds of Chinamen are usually sitting round 
 little tables in the upper story, enjoying a cup of 
 tea with cakes and melon seeds, for the wine and 
 the wonderful well of the legend have disappeared. 
 In the centre of the top story there is an image of 
 the deified philosopher Tu-Tsou, playing on his 
 
164 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 lute, while lie sits on the back of a stork, which 
 with outspread wings is preparing to carry him 
 through the regions of space. But the strangest 
 sight of all is to be found in one of the temples 
 behind the tower. This is the image of a god 
 fast asleep, kept under a glass case! When Lu- 
 Tsou goes through that part of the country, they 
 say, he stops and sleeps there. Are you not re- 
 minded of a text in your Bibles which tells us of 
 the unceasing care of God over his people, and 
 says, “Behold He that keepeth Israel shall neither 
 slumber nor sleep ”? 
 
 There are many more temples, hundreds I 
 could tell you of, in most great Chinese cities. 
 
 I have told you something of one or two, but 
 should like to mention one more situated in a 
 lovely spot, not in Wuchang, but on the Orphan 
 Island, in the Poyang Take. 
 
 Let me tell you of a visit I paid to it once. 
 We had been on a journey of many days in our 
 little boat on that great lake, and in returning 
 anchored our small craft at the foot of the flight 
 of steps and climbed up the steep ascent till we 
 reached the temple buildings. The whole island 
 was like a garden, the gray old rocks being cov- 
 ered with lovely climbing plants, while the fra- 
 grance of the Chinese jessamine scented the air. 
 Inside the temple were a multitude of gods of va- 
 rious names, but the one that interested me more 
 than any other was the shrine of the Goddess of 
 
ORPHAN ISLAND, 
 
IDOLATRY AND SUPERSTITIONS. 1 67 
 
 Mercy. There she sat on a throne decorated with 
 magnificent carving, and over her head was a 
 canopy composed of cloth of gold. But what at- 
 tracted me most was two large screens on either 
 side of the apartment, which were completely 
 covered from top to bottom with offerings, in the 
 shape of beautiful embroidered leaves or tiny ban- 
 ners, which had each been worked by some wo- 
 man or girl in the neighborhood. Some came 
 from homes of grinding poverty, where every cash 
 was needed to purchase daily food. And yet 
 every one seemed to have used the finest and best 
 materials; no one grudged denying herself in 
 order to present this offering to the useless idol 
 which had no power to help or save. As I looked 
 at the beautiful work and thought of the skilful 
 fingers which had embroidered this miniature 
 landscape, of the girlish hands which had traced 
 this simple border of flowers, how I longed for 
 the time when the glad news of Jesus, all power- 
 ful to save, shall brighten every Chinese home! 
 Do we always offer to the Saviour who died for us 
 the best we have to give — anything that costs 
 self-denial and is a real sacrifice to us — or are the 
 heathen more in earnest than we are ? 
 
 If I were to go on to tell you the names only 
 of all the gods and goddesses worshipped in China 
 you would grow tired of hearing them, there are 
 so many. So I will only mention a few of the 
 principal ones. 
 
HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 168 
 
 A very strange thing about them is that the 
 greater number of the people whose images are 
 now worshipped as gods in China are by no 
 means individuals whom we should feel in- 
 clined to reverence or even respect, if we are to 
 believe the stories told of them by their worship- 
 pers. 
 
 There is a god of thieves, who is said to have 
 been a great thief himself in former days; another 
 god to which gamblers go for help; and even a 
 god of swine, who helps people to find their pigs 
 when they lose them. 
 
 Even animals are worshipped also. 
 
 The monkey is supposed to have power over 
 evil spirits, the tiger to preserve children from 
 danger, and so offerings are made to them. The 
 viceroys and high mandarins in many parts of 
 China worship the fox. Foxes are supposed in 
 some peculiar way to take charge of the official 
 seals, and so they must be worshipped by the 
 rulers of the land; and the dragon king, who is 
 believed to be able to give or withhold rain when 
 it is needed, is worshipped not only by viceroys, 
 but by the emperor himself. 
 
 “If you do not believe in our other gods,” the 
 Chinese say sometimes, “surely you will not 
 deny that there is a god of thunder? See how he 
 strikes people dead who have offended him !” It 
 is the common belief in China that those who are 
 killed by lightning, or thunder, as they say, are 
 
IDOLATRY AND SUPERSTITIONS. 169 
 
 persons who have lived evil lives and displeased 
 the gods. 
 
 Not long ago a man who worked in an idol- 
 maker’s shop lost his life in this way. I remem- 
 ber, when the people were discussing the matter, 
 they all agreed that as they did not know of any- 
 thing seriously wrong in his life he must have 
 been a very bad person in some previous state of 
 existence, and was thus paying the penalty for 
 crimes committed then. 
 
 The god of fire is always worshipped after the 
 frequent fires which occur in every Chinese city. 
 He is supposed, I believe, by most people to be 
 rather the deliverer from fire than the cause of 
 it. 
 
 A story is told in connection with a temple 
 erected in his honor by a former emperor after the 
 destruction of one of his finest palaces. In the 
 midst of the fire the emperor declared he saw the 
 figure of a little old man with a long white beard. 
 Now this was considered very extraordinary, since 
 the images of the god of fire are always represent- 
 ed with red beards and are supposed to be con- 
 nected with flames of fire. The emperor was very 
 anxious to erect a temple in honor of the god, 
 whom he feared he had offended; so he ordered 
 his attendants to go to every temple in the city 
 and try and discover the god of fire who had a 
 white beard. This was a difficult matter, and all 
 the principal temples in the city were searched 
 
[! 
 
 IJO HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 without success. At last, in a dilapidated- temple 
 outside one of the city gates, it was found that 
 there was in existence an idol which, being mi- 
 nus a beard, had been supplied with one made of 
 frayed-out hemp. 
 
 The case was reported to the emperor, who 
 visited the ruined temple in great state, doing 
 reverence before the image and vowing that he 
 would build for it a temple as fine as any in the 
 city. 
 
 The new building was erected on the site of 
 the neglected, ruined shrine. 
 
 The god of war is worshipped by many others 
 as well as soldiers, for they believe that he will 
 make them strong and courageous. Sc lately as 
 1855 they say he appeared before the imperial 
 troops and led them to victory over the rebels; 
 and since then they have raised him to higher 
 rank among the gods than before. 
 
 Nearly every trade in China has its special 
 patron, but the god of wealth is honored by mer- 
 chants of every rank. His image, set in a small 
 niche, with incense burning before it, is seen in 
 most Chinese shops, and he is believed to help 
 his worshippers to become speedily rich. 
 
 The goddess of mercy, “Ma-Chu,” the god- 
 dess of sailors, and an idol called “Mother” 
 have a large number of worshippers, especially 
 among women and children. When there is a 
 storm at sea, or on one of the great lakes or rivers 
 
 
IDOLATRY AND SUPERSTITIONS. 171 
 
 of China, the sailors cry piteously for mercy to 
 the “Venerable Mother Ma-Chu,” who, they be- 
 lieve, will come to their rescue. 
 
 The original of the goddess, if we may be al- 
 lowed that term, died when a girl of twenty. 
 During her lifetime she told a wonderful story of 
 a remarkable dream she had. Her father and 
 brothers were seafaring men, and, while anxious- 
 ly expecting their return, she dreamed she was 
 out at sea watching three junks in great danger. 
 She seized one of them in either hand and the 
 third she held between her teeth, and, swimming 
 thus, she had almost reached a haven of safety; 
 but hearing her mother call to her she felt com- 
 pelled to answer, and so loosed her hold upon the 
 third boat, and awaking found it was a dream. 
 But some days after the brothers returned, telling 
 of the wonderful deliverance of their two junks 
 by an invisible power, and how their father’s 
 boat was wrecked when almost within sight of 
 land. It was evident to all who heard the story 
 that Ma-Chu, without knowing it, was possessed 
 of miraculous power, and since her death the 
 honor due to a goddess has been paid to her. 
 
 Little boys and girls are very early taught to 
 worship the goddess called “Mother,” who, with 
 a large number of attendants, is supposed care- 
 fully to watch over children and protect them 
 through the diseases of infancy. 
 
 I have told you much about the gods of China 
 
1/2 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 in which so many millions of the Chinese place 
 their trust. But some of the wisest men of the 
 nation have little faith in them. Yet every one 
 believes in the necessity for worshipping the 
 spirits of his ancestors if he would be prosperous 
 in life. As I said before, every man is believed 
 to have three souls ; one, at death, enters the 
 spirit-tablet, a sort of carved cabinet, with tiny 
 folding-doors, containing a small wooden tablet 
 upon which the deceased person’s name is writ- 
 ten. 
 
 People w r ill occasionally be found who laugh 
 at idol worship and have little faith in most su- 
 perstitious observances, and yet they believe firmly 
 in the necessity for and possibility of supplying 
 the needs of departed relatives by placing con- 
 stant offerings before the spirit-tablet. 
 
 Sometimes a priest will inform a family that 
 their friend in the unseen world is in great diffi- 
 culties. They must send him large sums of 
 money, and religious services must be held for 
 several days. In their anxiety and grief they lis- 
 ten to all the priest tells them. 
 
 A service of this kind took place one day in 
 the garden of a house quite near to us. The fa- 
 ther of a little boy I knew well had died about a 
 year before, and it was his spirit that the priests 
 said w r as in trouble. The poor boy, w T ho w^as his 
 father’s eldest son, w T as the principal actor in the 
 ceremonies. He w r as a bright, intelligent little 
 
SERVICE FOR THE DEAD. 
 
IDOLATRY AND SUPERSTITIONS. 1 75 
 
 fellow, but it will be long before I forget the look 
 of terror that was in the child’s face as, dressed in 
 his white mourning robes, he followed the direc- 
 tions of the priests and bowed rapidly at frequent 
 intervals, while incense and paper money were 
 burned, gongs beaten, and crackers exploded. 
 
 Besides what may be strictly called religious 
 observances, the Chinese have many strange and 
 superstitious customs. It is not proper in China 
 to have walls frequently whitewashed, for white 
 is the color of mourning; it is very rash to have 
 windows in a house, lest they should afford in- 
 gress to evil spirits. 
 
 If your front-door faces a street or lane you 
 must be sure and erect a wall or wooden screen 
 immediately opposite to it to prevent evil spirits 
 from finding an entrance. Roads in China are 
 rarely made straight, but wind and twist in a 
 most wearying and perplexing manner; for it is 
 believed spirits have an objection to these wind- 
 ing paths, while on the broad, straight way they 
 will certainly be met with. 
 
 When there is an eclipse of the sun or moon 
 in China, it is well known that, although the com- 
 ing event is announced beforehand in the Chinese 
 almanacs, it is nevertheless believed by many that 
 the phenomenon is caused by an attempt on the 
 part of an animal known as the “Heavenly Dog” 
 to eat up the luminary. The common people 
 seem thoroughly convinced that it is a time of 
 
 io 
 
i?6 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 very real danger, and make a most terrible noise 
 with gongs and cymbals till the eclipse passes 
 over, and they believe their efforts have proved 
 effectual and the “Heavenly Dog” has been 
 • frightened away. 
 
 This dog is the source of considerable anxi- 
 ety to them in another connection. One sum- 
 mer evening, when I had not been long in Chi- 
 na, my curiosity was aroused by the sudden burst- 
 ing out of a perfect babel of sounds from the 
 quiet streets which skirted the mission compound. 
 Gongs were beaten, crackers exploded, and most 
 of the domestic utensils of iron or tinware were 
 taken out and utilized to add to the universal din. 
 I called our servant to inquire the cause, and 
 was informed that the note of the nine-headed 
 bird had been heard in our neighborhood, and 
 everybody was in fear lest it should rest upon 
 their house. This bird was said to have original- 
 ly possessed ten heads, but one of them had long 
 ago been bitten off by that notorious 4 4 heavenly 
 dog.” The wound has never healed, and as the 
 bird flies along, if it chances to rest upon a house, 
 the blood dripping from it dooms it to destruction 
 by fire. No wonder, when the distant croak of 
 what was probably some solitary owl was heard, 
 the superstitious people, fearing for the safety of 
 their homes, seized on every available article and 
 spared no pains in making a din sufficient to 
 drive any bird away from their neighborhood. 
 
IDOLATRY AND SUPERSTITIONS. 1/7 
 
 So do the Chinese people seem to spend their 
 lives from the cradle to the grave, in constant 
 fear of unseen and often imaginary enemies. They 
 spend large sums of money in purchasing charms 
 which are sold by the Tauist priests, and are con- 
 stantly seeking by numberless devices to keep at 
 bay the spirits of evil which they believe are ever 
 striving to do them harm. 
 
i;8 
 
 home-life: in china. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 TEACHING CHINESE CHILDREN. 
 
 I HAVE told you what strange superstitions 
 the Chinese have about the powers which they 
 fancy are able to influence men’s lives. You have 
 heard how the children are taught to bow down 
 and worship grim idols of wood and stone, of 
 which terrible stories are told, and have never 
 dreamed of a God who loves little children, watch- 
 ing over them with tenderest care. 
 
 We go to China to tell not only the grown-up 
 men and women, but also the boys and girls, the 
 good news which we have known ever since we 
 could understand anything — the news that we 
 have a Father in heaven who loves us so much 
 that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoso- 
 ever believeth in Him might not perish but have 
 everlasting life. 
 
 Perhaps you would like to know how we teach 
 these Chinese boys and girls. First of all we 
 have to win their confidence, and make the fa- 
 thers and mothers as well as the children less afraid 
 of us. For when we first go into a Chinese city 
 many of the boys and girls will run away and 
 hide themselves, afraid lest we should catch them 
 and do some dreadful thing to them. Some of 
 them will run after us, calling u Yang-kwei-tsz,” 
 
/ 
 
 TEACHING CHINESE CHILDREN. 1 79 
 
 which means something like ‘ ‘ foreign evil spirit, ’ ’ 
 and other bad names, and a few will pick up 
 stones and throw them at us, trying thus to drive 
 us away. 
 
 “But why are they angry when they see us 
 coming into their cities ?’ ’ you will ask, ‘ ‘ and 
 why are they afraid of us ?’ ’ Principally because 
 we are not Chinamen, and have come from an- 
 other country. The Chinese very much dislike 
 people of other countries coming and trading or 
 having any other dealings with them, and most of 
 them would be very glad if we were all driven out 
 of China to-morrow. Englishmen and other for- 
 eigners would not have got into the country at qjl 
 if it had not been for a great war which we had 
 with them. England was victorious, and so she 
 obliged China to open several of her ports to trade 
 with foreigners, and to allow them to live there. 
 And ever since all that our nation or any other 
 has gained from China has always been at the 
 point of the sword, or because they were afraid of 
 us. So it is only natural that they are not pleased 
 to see us walking about the streets of their cities. 
 
 There is another reason for their disliking us, 
 and a still sadder one. There is a plant which 
 grows over vast tracts of land in India, which you 
 know belongs to England. It is a very innocent- 
 looking flower, and is called the poppy. Perhaps 
 it has done more harm than any other flower that 
 ever grew. There is a juice that oozes from the 
 
HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 I So 
 
 capsules of this flower which, when dry, becomes 
 opium, a powerful drug which millions of people 
 in China are smoking to-day. They never sit up 
 to smoke it, but lie down on a couch. It often 
 gives them very strange and beautiful dreams, and 
 so they are tempted to try it again. Before very 
 long they think they can much more easily do 
 without food or clothing than without their smoke 
 of opium, and at last, when all they possess has 
 been pawned and sold, they will even sell their 
 wives and children to get more opium. Their 
 faces get very haggard-looking, their eyes sunken, 
 so that you know a confirmed opium-smoker di- 
 rectly you meet him in the street. 
 
 It is very sad to think that this drug that 
 does so much harm is sent to China by English- 
 men, since India belongs to them. A great deal 
 of opium is grown in China now, for the Chinese 
 farmers find it pays much better than their oth- 
 er crops. But when England tops sending the 
 Indian opium — which we hope she will soon do 
 — then the best men in China will do all they 
 can to stop the growth of it in their own land, 
 which they see is being ruined by it. “Where 
 do you come from?” the Chinese often ask mis- 
 sionaries, and when they answer, “From Eng- 
 land,” we see a sneer on their faces, and they 
 say, “England! Ah, that is the country that 
 sends the opium to kill our people !” So you see 
 there are several reasons why the Chinese do not 
 
TEACHING CHINESE CHILDREN. l8l 
 
 give us a very warm welcome. And since they 
 do not like us, the officials have from the first 
 circulated some very wicked and untrue stories 
 about us. They say we have very powerful and 
 efficacious medicines, and large numbers who at- 
 tend our mission hospitals know this to be true, 
 but they add that we make these medicines out 
 of the eyes of people who become Christians, and 
 from the bones of little Chinese babies. No won- 
 der then that people are afraid to let their children 
 come near us lest they should never see them again. 
 
 We try to win their friendship in many ways. 
 Having learned their language, we are soon able 
 to say a few kind words to the children, and then 
 we often give them some little pictures, which 
 delight them very much. After a while we are 
 able to go and see their mothers in their own 
 homes, and then they will come and see us, being 
 curious to look at the strange things they find in 
 our houses. What a number of questions they al- 
 ways have to ask us! “Is there a sun and a moon 
 in your country?” they inquire. “Are there 
 hills and trees?” “Why do you not have black 
 eyes like ours? Have they faded out?” “Can 
 you see with them several feet down into the 
 earth, and know where gold and silver are lying?” 
 “Why do your women have such large feet, just 
 like men, instead of ‘golden lilies ’ three inches 
 long?” “Why do you wear your hair in such a 
 strange fashion, instead of having it glued down 
 
i 82 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 on wire shapes ?” 4 ‘Why do foreign ladies wear 
 
 coverings over their heads when they go out of 
 doors? It is just like the men!’ ’ These and very 
 many more questions are constantly asked and 
 answered. Then sometimes we sing to them 
 English hymns that have been translated into 
 Chinese, such as “Jesus loves me,” “There is a 
 happy land,” and many more. We show them 
 pictures too of scenes in the life of Christ, and tell 
 them a great deal about him. After a while they 
 begin to think perhaps the bad reports they have 
 heard are not quite true. 
 
 “I have often thought of coming, with my 
 daughter, to see you,” said a mandarin’s wife to 
 me, “but I felt so much afraid of you that I al- 
 ways put it off. I shall have no fear in future, 
 for I think you are, after all, not so very unlike 
 ourselves.” This is how, step by step, we get 
 the people to come around us, and at last to allow 
 their children to attend our schools. 
 
 It is much easier to do this when we are set- 
 tled in a large town; but there are many millions 
 of people in China who have never heard of Jesus 
 and his salvation, and many cities which have 
 never been visited by a missionary. So some- 
 times during the spring and autumn seasons we 
 go and visit some of the towns that have no set- 
 tled missionary, and try to tell the good news and 
 to sell Christian books to people who frequently 
 have never before had an opportunity of hearing 
 
TEACHING CHINESE CHILDREN. 185 
 
 the gospel preached. We usually take these trips 
 in small native boats. The arched roof is of mat- 
 ting, tarred, to keep out the rain, and it is so low 
 that we cannot stand quite upright in it. We are 
 favored with two small windows, but they are 
 filled up with thin sheets of oyster-shells instead 
 of glass. By taking away one of the movable 
 boards we can make an opening through wdiich 
 we creep on to the little bit of deck. Sometimes 
 when sitting inside our boat this opening serves 
 as a window, through which we get pretty peeps 
 at the beautiful river scenery or glimpses of pass- 
 ing junks. 
 
 The inside of our boat is furnished with two 
 stools, and the raised locker serves us for table by 
 day and bedstead at night. Our bedding does not 
 take up much room, since it consists only of pukais , 
 or wadded quilts, such as the Chinese use. And 
 a comfortable bed it makes, when one is snugly 
 rolled up in it in Chinese fashion. 
 
 Our Chinese servant is sitting in the boat, on 
 guard. He cooks all our meals for us at a tiny 
 charcoal stove on board belonging to the boat- 
 man. When we reach a large country town, Mr. 
 Bryson goes on shore and preaches or sells books 
 in the streets and market-places. Sometimes he 
 is accompanied by a missionary friend who travels 
 in another small boat, and sometimes by a native 
 Christian, who is very glad to tell his fellow-coun- 
 trymen of what Jesus has done for him. 
 
 
1 86 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 But what crowds of women and children come 
 to the boat to see me! The boys climb up on the 
 side of it, and small black eyes watch me curious- 
 ly through many a crack and hole, as if I were 
 some wonderful wild animal on view for their 
 amusement. After a while the women muster up 
 courage, and one after another creeps into the boat 
 or crouches down on the tiny deck, and listens to 
 what I have to tell them. Then the little boys 
 and girls come forward and are made happy with 
 a picture or text-card. At last so many come 
 running from the city to our quiet anchorage 
 that the boatman gets alarmed. He is afraid too 
 many will crowd on to the boat, and it will cap- 
 size. So he puts out farther from the shore. Then 
 the people hire ferry-boats, and crowds of them 
 come out and surround us, especially if they hap- 
 pen to have heard I have a little foreign boy on 
 board. 
 
 They came out in this way once at a place 
 called Pau-ngan, situated on the shores of a beau- 
 tiful lake, which looked very lovely, for the trees 
 which adorned its banks were all clothed in the 
 brilliant tints of autumn. On the same journey 
 we passed on to another city called Chin-nieu, 
 where the people became very angry with us. 
 They threw great stones on the frail mat-roof of 
 our boat, and we had entered a narrow creek, so 
 we were quite at their mercy. After a time they 
 became quieter, and some were willing to buy 
 
TEACHING CHINESE CHILDREN. 187 
 
 books and listen to the preaching. At other places 
 they were so anxious to get books that they swam 
 across the stream to obtain them. So we go on 
 from day to day on these country journeys, some- 
 times being driven away from the place, and at 
 other times meeting with people who are very 
 glad to see and hear us. u Is Jesus living now?” 
 u How is it he was not born in China ?” “If all 
 this happened so long ago, how is it that we in 
 this great Middle Kingdom have been so long in 
 hearing of it ?’ ’ These and many other questions 
 are asked of us daily. Sometimes we hear of no 
 results from these visits, only we know no work 
 done for God can be in vain, and we believe he 
 will bless the seed that is sown and make it spring 
 up, even though it be “ after many days.” 
 
 Now and then, long after our visits, we hear 
 of people who, on these occasions, for the first time 
 heard of Jesus. They have studied the books they 
 have bought, and then come up to the city deter- 
 mined to hear more of so good a religion. One 
 earnest Christian boy heard of the gospel first in 
 his native town, from which the missionaries had 
 been driven with violence. When he grew older 
 and came to Wuchang, he found out the chapel, 
 and before long became a true believer in Jesus, 
 and had to endure much persecution and suffering 
 on account of his faith. 
 
 But to go back to the city. There we have a 
 Chinese mission hospital, which relieves the suf- 
 
i88 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 ferings of many thousands of people every year. 
 One day two little girls were brought there who 
 were believed to be quite blind. Dr. Mackenzie, 
 who was then in charge of it, was able to perform 
 an operation, after which they were able to see. 
 How glad they and their parents were you can 
 imagine ! These two girls heard about Jesus in 
 the hospital, they learned to believe in him, and 
 are now living happy Christian lives in their vil- 
 lage homes. 
 
 A boy was brought to the hospital who was 
 suffering very great pain because he had per- 
 formed what in China is considered a meritorious 
 action. His father was ill, and, hoping to cure 
 him, he had actually cut a piece of flesh out of 
 his own leg and given it to his father among his 
 other food, hoping that he would recover from his 
 sickness. Very many filial sons do this in China: 
 they are told if they do it “with a pure heart ” 
 their parents will certainly recover. This poor 
 boy was very ill indeed for a long time. Another 
 boy, who was the son of a mandarin living in a 
 city farther down the river, was brought to the 
 hospital by his mother, who was on a visit to the 
 town. He recovered from his illness, and having 
 heard much about Jesus in the hospital and from 
 Mr. Owen, who used to teach him every night, 
 he determined to become a Christiap. I remem- 
 ber him well on the last Sunday before he left to 
 return to his heathen home. How happy he 
 
TEACHING CHINESE CHILDREN. 1S9 
 
 looked singing the glad Christian hymns in the 
 chapel ! He was going, like Joseph, far away 
 from all who loved and worshipped the God he 
 had chosen. But He who kept Joseph faithful in 
 the dark land of Egypt could keep this Chinese 
 boy through the trials he would certainly have to 
 endure. 
 
 I told you how, by degrees, we were able to 
 get people to allow their children to come to our 
 schools. Eet me tell you a little about them and 
 the lessons they learn. We always try to obtain 
 a Christian master who is also a good scholar. 
 The children get a very good Chinese education, 
 and in addition they study the Bible and cate- 
 chism. They have wonderfully good memories, 
 and I think you would find they could surpass 
 most English children if they were set to learn 
 the same lesson by heart. Many of them think 
 nothing of repeating several chapters or even a 
 whole Gospel from memory; and not long ago, in 
 a mission-school in North China, they had a boy 
 who could repeat the whole of the New Testa- 
 ment through without mistake. 
 
 I should like you to hear some of our Chinese 
 children singing. They have not very musical 
 voices in Central China, neither had they for a 
 long time the least idea of time. But they do 
 thoroughly enjoy singing their hymns, many of 
 which are translations of those you sing in Eng- 
 lish. 
 
I90 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 During the great examination season, when 
 some ten thousand students come up from all parts 
 of the province to compete for their degree, it is a 
 very busy time in the city of Wuchang. 
 
 The parents of some of our boys are very poor, 
 and they are obliged to keep them away from 
 school for half the day, so that they may earn a 
 little money by carrying about baskets of nuts and 
 cakes and selling them to the students. On one 
 of these occasions, I was told, by some one who 
 heard them, that while our little scholars were 
 trying to sell their wares they took the opportu- 
 nity, every now and then, to join in singing one 
 of their school hymns. It was a new one they 
 had just been learning: 
 
 " In heaven there is no more sorrow, 
 
 There is no more death and pain.” 
 
 The strange sounds gathered a little crowd around 
 the boys. “Where did you learn that song?” 
 asked a grave elderly man wearing large specta- 
 cles in heavy tortoise-shell frames, giving him, in 
 Chinese eyes, a most learned appearance. “We 
 were taught it at the Glad Tidings Hall,” replied 
 the children. “It sounds very strange, and yet 
 there is something attractive in it,” said another 
 student. “It is extraordinary that the foreigners 
 should teach children anything like that.” 
 
 We were pleased to hear that our boys had 
 been trying to sing for Jesus, for we know how 
 
TEACHING CHINESE CHILDREN. 191 
 
 glad "he is to receive the services of children, even 
 in their earliest days. 
 
 Others we know repeat the lessons they have 
 learned at school in their own homes, and some 
 are teaching their little friends much of what they 
 learn. One of our boys, named Tsz-Sz-Heu, had a 
 number of little friends who were not allowed by 
 their parents to come to the Christian school. He 
 used, after leaving school, to tell the other boys 
 the Bible stories he had heard there. One day 
 Mr. Bryson was surprised to see a number of 
 strange boys’ faces peeping into the chapel ad- 
 joining the schoolroom where he had been preach- 
 ing. The remarkable thing about them was that 
 these boys did not seem at all afraid of him, as 
 most heathen boys would have been. He began 
 talking to the children, and was much surprised 
 when one little boy said, “We know it is wrong 
 to worship idols. The God we must serve is our 
 Father in heaven, who sent his Son to die for us.” 
 They went on to say that since every one had done 
 wrong, and all have sinned and must be punished, 
 Jesus died, and those who believe in him are saved, 
 and live for ever in heaven. “And who taught 
 you all this?” the children were asked. They 
 replied that it was their little friend, our scholar. 
 Tsz-Sz-Heu was by no means one of our brightest 
 boys, and we were much encouraged to find that 
 he had himself become a little missionary and 
 was teaching his young companions. 
 
192 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 Christmas day is always a holiday long looked 
 forward to by our school - children, for then we 
 have a grand feast and prizes are distributed. 
 How busy they are all the day before gathering 
 and collecting evergreens to adorn the school- 
 room! Then a large number of colored Scripture 
 pictures are arranged round the walls, and here 
 and there pairs of scarlet Chinese scrolls are hung 
 up, bearing a text or having some suitable motto 
 written upon them. 
 
 Among the native Christians there was one 
 man who had once belonged to a wealthy family 
 in a far-distant province. He had wasted all his 
 money, and was in very poor circumstances when 
 he came to our city and heard the gospel first. 
 He could write or paint the strange Chinese char- 
 acters most beautifully, and had been accustomed 
 at the New Year’s season to earn a great deal of 
 money by writing scrolls intended to serve idola- 
 trous or superstitious purposes. He was requested 
 to write many such after he heard the gospel. He 
 had not become a member of the church, but his 
 reply was, “No; I have decided to join the Chris- 
 tians. I can have nothing to do with anything 
 connected with idolatry.” Here is one of the 
 mottoes he wrote for the school treat : ‘ ‘ The 
 birthday of Him who brought joy to men of every 
 land.” 
 
 Our reading-desk was adorned with fragrant 
 lemons peeping out among their glossy leaves; 
 
TEACHING CHINESE CHILDREN. 1 93 
 
 then there were “heavenly bamboos, ” with their 
 brilliant berries, and many other plants. 
 
 When Christmas morning came you may be 
 sure the children and their parents were all there 
 in very good time, attired in their best clothing in 
 honor of the day. First we sang a hymn. It was 
 “Hark, the herald angels sing,” in Chinese, of 
 course ; then, after prayer, the beautiful story of 
 the Babe of Bethlehem was read, followed by a 
 Christmas address from the pastor, which seemed 
 to be full of interest to the smallest children. 
 After the conclusion of the service the prizes were 
 given out What an exciting moment it was, for 
 parents as well as children, when one child after 
 another came up to receive the prize allotted to 
 him ! 
 
 Every one was made happy with something, 
 though all the gifts were not of equal value. 
 Here were some gay little Chinese caps, just the 
 thing for the New Year’s season, which was so 
 soon coming on. Here were some lead-pencils 
 and pocket-knives, which had been sent out from 
 England by some kind friends of Chinese chil- 
 dren. Here were books filled with pictures, which 
 would give the children and their friends pleasure 
 for many a long day to come. 
 
 When every child had received a present it 
 was about time for the feast to commence. You 
 would have been surprised to see how fast the 
 chop-sticks go to work, and how quickly the rice- 
 
 11 
 
 Home-Life in China. 
 
i94 
 
 HOME- LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 basins need refilling. Eight children sit at each 
 table. In the centre of every table stands a basin 
 of stewed fish or meat, as the case may be. Ev- 
 ery boy helps himself as he feels inclined, accord- 
 ing to Chinese custom, out of this centre dish, blit 
 each child has a rice-basin to himself or herself. 
 Besides the dav-school we have a Sunday-school, 
 which is attended by all the week-day scholars 
 and as many others as they can persuade to come 
 with them by holding out the promise of a little 
 picture to be given by the teacher. 
 
 Some of the older lads have left school and are 
 now in situations. They have received permis- 
 sion from their masters to attend the school, but 
 unfortunately the number who are thus allowed 
 to come is very small. 
 
 The school is opened just like Sunday-schools 
 at home, with singing and prayer, and then the 
 teachers, who are all members of the church, take 
 their separate classes and go over the same lesson, 
 which most of them have prepared with the pastor 
 in the early morning of the previous day. When 
 teaching-time is over, a colored illustration of the 
 lesson for the day is hung upon the blackboard 
 and the children are questioned upon what they 
 have been taught. 
 
 Quite a forest of hands goes up as a proof that 
 they can answer nearly every question ; and I 
 think that our children at home who were study- 
 ing the same lesson would have to be very atten- 
 
TEACHING CHINESE CHILDREN. 1 95 
 
 tive, or they would find the Chinese boys and 
 girls could pass the examination more success- 
 fully than they. 
 
 It is more difficult to get girls to our school 
 than boys, but those who come, if only allowed to 
 attend regularly, we find quite as bright and intel- 
 ligent as their brothers. Before the principal fes- 
 tivals of the year we always speak very earnestly 
 to the children about the sin of idolatry, for we 
 know they will see so much of it around them on 
 every hand. 
 
 After one New Year’s holiday we found that 
 some of our boys had been to several of the idol 
 shrines, and pulling out the sticks of incense burn- 
 ing before them, had thrown them away. In one 
 small temple they had knocked down one or two 
 small figures of the attendants of the idol, to show 
 the people they were of no use and no one need be 
 afraid of them. But of course we had to condemn 
 such lawless proceedings. 
 
 Some who were scholars when we first com- 
 menced the school are now almost young men. 
 
 One of them is hoping to become a preacher 
 of the gospel; some are in situations in places of 
 business or in service, and are trying to live as 
 Christians. 
 

PART II. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 yau-ting; or, first-fruits gathered. 
 
 One day in mid-autumn, some twenty years 
 ago, the streets of a grand old city in Central 
 China were all astir with busy life. Some of the 
 bright-colored sign-boards had been adorned with 
 a new coat of paint, and most of the tradesmen 
 had a brisk business-like air about them, as if 
 times were good and trade flourishing. If you 
 had gone out of the main thoroughfares into the 
 more retired streets you would have seen large red 
 bills pasted above the doorways, intimating that 
 within there were apartments to let for the “Se- 
 nior Wrangler.” What young student in need of 
 apartments could resist the attraction of such an 
 advertisement? All these were signs that the 
 great Triennial Examinations were in progress 
 and the city had been making preparations to re- 
 ceive her ten thousand guests. These scholars 
 had come up from all parts of the province, with 
 the hope of obtaining in the competitive examina- 
 tions the degree which is the passport in China to 
 official rank and honor. 
 
198 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 Not only was young China represented there, 
 gay in robes of delicate-colored silks and crepes , 
 but there were venerable men also, with snowy 
 locks and forms bent with age. They had entered 
 in many a contest, and failed to receive the prize 
 which only sixty-one in ten thousand can obtain, 
 but they were determined to try again, since they 
 considered the honor more than sufficient reward 
 for all the toil and pains spent in striving after 
 it. 
 
 It w T as at this time that a respectable middle- 
 aged man might have been seen passing along one 
 of these crowded streets. At last he stopped before 
 the shop of a dealer in fancy wares and needle- 
 work, and might have been seen gazing through 
 the open shop-front at some of the beautiful handi- 
 work exhibited there. Here wore squares of gor- 
 geous scarlet, embroidered with beautiful sprays 
 of flowers, which are in great request as marriage 
 presents. Tadics’ head-dresses wore there also in 
 oreat variety. A sort of band or coronet to encircle 
 
 o J 
 
 the head w r as the foundation in all cases; but wdiile 
 some wore elaborately embroidered, others wore 
 studded with ornaments not unlike tiny brooches. 
 Beside them wore caps for boys, of various bright 
 colors, adorned w 7 ith gay silk tassels, dainty embioi- 
 dered purses, and a variety of other small articles. 
 
 The master of the establishment had a large 
 number of employees among the poor women of the 
 neighborhood, who helped to keep their house- 
 
yau-ting; or, first-fruits gathered. 199 
 
 holds beyond the reach of want by their skilful 
 and beautiful handiwork. 
 
 The man who had been looking at all the 
 varied show of ornamental needlework soon en- 
 tered the shop. He wished to purchase a specta- 
 cle case, and after much talking and bargaining 
 the business was concluded. Then, to his dismay, 
 the customer discovered that he had not with him 
 sufficient money to pay for his purchase. Look- 
 ing round, he saw, playing near to him, a little 
 dark-eyed boy about seven years of age. Yau-ting 
 was the little fellow’s name; he was a bright live- 
 ly child, and the pet of the household. The pur- 
 chaser turned to the assistant who had served 
 him, and apologizing for the dilemma in which 
 he found himself, suggested that the boy should 
 accompany him to his home, which was not far 
 off, and receive payment for the spectacle case. 
 With the ready politeness which is so character- 
 istic of the Chinese the offer was accepted, and 
 the middle-aged man and the little boy might 
 soon have been seen walking side by side through 
 the busy streets. 
 
 In the meantime the father of the child had 
 returned home, and being busily engaged in at- 
 tending to customers, failed to notice the absence 
 of his little son. “Where is Yau-ting?” he in- 
 quired after a while, expecting to hear that the 
 little fellow was playing with some of his childish 
 companions. 
 
200 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 “Yau-ting!” repeated the assistant, and there 
 was a look of dismay upon his face, “why, I 
 thought he had returned long ago. ’ ’ 
 
 o o o 
 
 ‘ ‘ Where did you think he would return from ?” 
 asked the unsuspecting father. 
 
 “Why, he went away almost an hour ago 
 with a customer who came from the Glad Tidings 
 Hall, which has been lately opened in the city.” 
 
 The father’s face grew pale with fear, and he 
 turned sharply upon the young man. “You 
 dared to send my son into that infamous place ! 
 You, who have heard how the outer barbarians 
 murder and extract the eyes of innocent children, 
 to obtain the means for making their strangely 
 efficacious medicines ! Why, the child may be in 
 terrible danger at this moment!” and unable to 
 endure the thought of the tragedy which his fancy 
 pictured, the father rushed from the house, deter- 
 mined to do everything in his power to rescue his 
 child from the hands of those who were connected 
 with the terrible barbarians. 
 
 Meanwhile the mother and the other members 
 of the family, having heard that the hope of the 
 house had been spirited away by a member of the 
 hated “Jesus religion,” wept and bewailed as if 
 the news of the little one’s death had already 
 reached them. And the father, heedless of the 
 busy life of the crowded thoroughfares, careless of 
 the coolies hastening on with their heavy loads, 
 unconscious of everything but his child’s danger, 
 
yau-ting; or, first-fruits gathered. 201 
 
 saw and heard nothing till he reached the ‘ ‘ Glad 
 Tidings Hall of the Jesus religion.” It was an 
 ordinary building, merely a shop turned into a 
 preaching hall. He would never have dreamed 
 of entering the place at any other time; but now 
 his child was there, and, father-like, his only 
 thought was how he might rescue him. He en- 
 tered, and the first sight he saw was the small 
 Yau-ting happily playing with another Chinese 
 boy of about the same age. 
 
 The teacher who was in charge of the hall, 
 and in whose company the child had left his 
 home, advanced towards him. He politely in- 
 vited him to enter the guest-room and drink tea 
 there, apologizing at the same time for detaining 
 the little lad so long, because he was anxious to 
 remain with his new-found playfellow. At any 
 other time I have no doubt Mr. Fan would have 
 most certainly declined the invitation. He would 
 have feared that any beverage offered to him in 
 such a place might not be tea at all, but the 
 “medicine of bewilderment,” which it was said 
 changed men’s thoughts and lives, and made 
 them “willing to do anything the Jesus people 
 said was right.” 
 
 But, w T ith his heart filled with the sense of re- 
 lief that the sight of his precious little son had 
 given him, he was for the moment oblivious of all 
 evil reports. He sat down with the teacher Pau, 
 and drank of the tea he offered, while they smoked 
 
202 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 together the pipe of friendship. Although he did 
 not remain long, before leaving Mr. Fan had 
 promised to call again, and had invited the teacher 
 to his own home. Mr. Pau politely accompanied 
 his visitor to the door, begging him to “walk 
 slowly,” apologizing meanwhile, in Chinese fash- 
 ion, for scant hospitality. Mr. Fan replied with 
 the usual polite expressions, and holding the hand 
 of his little son made his way home with a grate- 
 ful heart. 
 
 The whole family welcomed the little wander- 
 er, and rejoiced together as they laughed at their 
 previous fears. And in the teacher’s home there 
 was gladness too that night — the poor teacher, 
 whose life was by no means an easy one, since he 
 was the sole witness for Jesus in all that great 
 city. He might have become used to the jeers of 
 common people and the sneers of the haughty 
 literati , but constant repetition did not make him 
 feel their scornful words any the less. The proud 
 disciples of Confucius were constantly inquiring 
 what he meant by his presumptuous attempt to 
 aid “ the barbarians,” by helping them in spread- 
 ing the doctrines of the ‘ ‘ unknown Western teach- 
 er, called Jesus,” among those w T ho were followers 
 of China’s revered sage. 
 
 Human nature finds it hard to grow accus- 
 tomed to these things, and day after day, as this 
 lonely servant of Christ closed the doors of the 
 preaching hall while the evening shadows were 
 
yau-ting; or, first-fruits gathered. 203 
 
 darkening in the narrow streets, his heart sank 
 within him. Despised and rejected, hated by all, 
 truly, like many another Christian in China to- 
 day, he had to take up his cross and follow his 
 divine Master very closely along the path of trial 
 and suffering. One, who was in all points tempt- 
 ed even as His servants are, pitied the weary heart 
 of His faithful follower, and sent this ray of sun- 
 shine to brighten his lonely way. 
 
 The adventures of small Yau-ting served as 
 a link to bind together his own and the teacher’s 
 family. They exchanged frequent visits, and the 
 Christian teacher had many opportunities of com- 
 mending the truths he believed to the notice of 
 his. new friends. The women of the families be- 
 came acquainted also, and the teacher’s wife was 
 indeed glad as she told her heathen sister of One 
 who is the Friend of women in every land. 
 
 Time passed on, and Yau-ting’ s father became 
 a believer in Jesus and decided to cast in his lot 
 with the despised Christians, and his wife also gave 
 her heart to Christ. They were received into the 
 church, and Yau-ting and his parents were rarely 
 absent from their places in the chapel when the 
 Lord’s day came round. One of my bright mem- 
 ories of early days in China is the recollection of 
 Yau-ting’ s happy face as he sang with all his 
 heart translations of those well-known hymns 
 which are as dear to Chinese Christians as they 
 are to us. 
 
204 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 The boy’s seat in chapel used to be between 
 his young friend, the teacher’s son, and our senior 
 deacon, Hu. An earnest and devoted servant of 
 the Lord was Hu, one whose constant desire it 
 was to tell those who had never heard it the glad 
 tidings which had filled his own life with joy. Two 
 of that little trio are no longer members of the 
 church militant. They stand before the throne, 
 a part of that multitude which no man can num- 
 ber, who shall come out of every kingdom and peo- 
 ple and tongue, who are coming now from the 
 “Land of Sinim.” 
 
 The next great event which I remember in the 
 life of young Yau-ting was his marriage. He was 
 only a lad of sixteen or so, but Chinese custom 
 betroths babies and marries girls and boys. I 
 saw the boy-bridegroom on his wedding day, at 
 the marriage feast, to which we were invited. 
 Very bright and handsome he looked, attired in 
 the grand robes of a high official, which may be 
 worn on his marriage day by every Chinese bride- 
 groom. In accordance with the usual custom, he 
 handed round several dishes to the guests invited 
 to the feast, and then retired. The little bride 
 was not so pleasant-looking as her boy-husband. 
 Her face was sadly scarred with small-pox, but 
 she had a gentle and grave expression of counte- 
 nance. She used to come with her mother-in-law 
 and little sister to my weekly Bible-class, and 
 would watch my every movement with frightened 
 
yau-ting; or, first-fruits gathered. 205 
 
 questioning eyes. No wonder, poor child; for she 
 had doubtless heard many terrible stories in her 
 country home of the hated foreigners, and could 
 not at once place in us so much confidence as she 
 saw the rest of the family did. Gradually and 
 by slow degrees the trembling girlish heart was 
 won, not only to regard the foreign teachers with 
 friendliness, but, best of all, to love and reverence 
 the Lord Jesus as her Saviour; and after a time 
 of probation she was received into the fellowship 
 of the little band of Christians. Her husband had 
 professed his faith in Christ some months before. 
 
 I always remember the happy day when Yau- 
 ting and his young friend, the teacher’s son, 
 made a profession of their faith. Two lads they 
 were, with the brightness of youth upon their faces; 
 both were the sons of Christians, and it was a glad 
 sight to see them putting on the armor. With 
 full hearts we united with the little band of Chi- 
 nese converts in praying that they might be kept 
 faithful through life, even unto death. 
 
 A year or so after, a little grandchild was born 
 into the family. Christianity does not immediate- 
 ly change and obliterate the habits and thoughts 
 derived from generations of heathen ancestors, 
 and it was a great disappointment to the family to 
 receive into their midst a granddaughter instead 
 of the longed-for grandson. But the little girl 
 was tenderly loved and cared for. The day on 
 which she was first brought to the church, in the 
 
206 home-life in china. 
 
 arms of her delighted grandmother, seems to 
 me, when I look back, almost the last season of 
 great gladness which fell to the lot of the Fan 
 family. Not that their daily life previously had 
 been free from trials and persecutions. It is im- 
 possible, at present, for Christians to live in Chi- 
 na unmolested by their neighbors, who look upon 
 them, if not with hatred, with suspicious fear. 
 Taxes in aid of idolatrous ceremonies are con- 
 stantly levied; and when the Christians refuse to 
 contribute to such objects they have to endure 
 many insults, if not attacks which endanger life 
 and limb. 
 
 At the grand idol festivals, which are held on 
 frequent occasions throughout the year, the Chris- 
 tians are marked men. Their attendance upon 
 the Sabbath services makes them the butt not 
 only of the laughter and ridicule, but of the scan- 
 dals and evil-speaking, of the neighborhood in 
 which they live. But these are only the common 
 trials of all Chinese converts. 
 
 How different in the foundation of its teaching 
 is the religion of Jesus when compared with all 
 heathen faiths ! “If you worship the gods, riches 
 and honor and long life and prosperity shall at- 
 tend you,” is the teaching of most false religions. 
 “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and 
 scourgeth every son whom he receiveth,” is the 
 testimony of the Word of God. 
 
 And for the Fan family a time of trial which 
 
yau-ting; or, first-fruits gathered. 207 
 
 was to test their faith to the utmost was indeed at 
 hand. The father became seriously ill, and day 
 by day he grew weaker. The best native medi- 
 cal advice was procured and many remedies tried, 
 but without success. He was unwilling to leave 
 his home and enter the English hospital which 
 was on the other side of the Yang-tse River, but 
 he thankfully received the foreign medicines pro- 
 vided for him; and his family nursed him tender- 
 ly, more in accordance with Western ideas than 
 with Chinese plans for sick nursing. But the 
 disease had taken too strong a hold upon him to 
 be checked, and through the hot days of mid- 
 summer he grew weaker and weaker, and at last 
 passed quietly away to his rest. There was a 
 look of such perfect peace upon the still face as it 
 lay in the coffin that it was remarked with won- 
 dering surprise by all the heathen neighbors, who 
 had been invited in to take a last look and to as- 
 sure themselves that the reports about taking out 
 the eyes of dead Christians were quite unfounded. 
 How strange it all seemed to them ! There was 
 no wild tumult of weeping in the death-chamber, 
 but amid the natural grief of widow and orphan 
 was the hopeful looking forward to a glad meet- 
 ing in a land beyond the grave. 
 
 There was no burning of incense or paper 
 money, no worship before the spirit -tablet, no 
 calling in of priests to rid the house of evil spir- 
 its. It was all perplexing beyond measure. 
 
208 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 The young Yau-ting had at once to take up 
 his position as head of the Christian family, with 
 all the trials and difficulties inseparably connect- 
 ed with it. He was a lad of bright promise, with 
 all his father’s charm of amiability and kindli- 
 ness, and also a decision and strength of character 
 which his father had never possessed. Was it 
 wonderful that we expected great things of him ? 
 Is it strange that we believe he is now engaged in 
 a nobler service yonder ? 
 
 For in the bright morning of his days the dis- 
 ease which has called so many from the dear 
 shores of our own land was sent as the messenger 
 to call him home from the crowded Eastern city. 
 He was attacked by consumption, and, although 
 every care was lavished upon him and earnest 
 prayers rose constantly on his behalf, it was not 
 the will of the Father to spare him longer. We 
 could see that he was slowly but surely failing. 
 How happy he used to look at the services in the 
 little Chinese chapel, for he attended them to the 
 very last ! It was a touching group indeed: the 
 widowed mother, the young wife, and the little 
 daughter — and the hope of the family passing 
 away from them for ever. 
 
 It was on the 9th of February, 1882, that the 
 summons came. He received it surrounded by a 
 little band of Christian friends, who commended 
 him into the hands of the Saviour he loved. u I 
 know that Jesus is with me,” were some of his 
 
yau-ting; or, first-fruits gathered. 209 
 
 last words. Then calling to his side his widowed 
 mother, soon to be bereaved of her only son, he 
 begged her not to grieve for him, but whatever 
 trials she might have to endure — and his loving 
 heart told him they would not be light or few — 
 never under any circumstances to forsake Christ 
 or give up her confidence in Him. Soon after his 
 spirit passed away to the Saviour in whom he 
 trusted. He was laid to rest in the burying- 
 ground of our infant church. Just outside the 
 eastern gate of the city, almost overshadowed by 
 the grim walls of an ancient heathen temple, all 
 that was mortal of Yau-ting lies sleeping till the 
 resurrection morning. 
 
 Prosperity and long life, say the heathen, is 
 the lot of those who worship at the idol shrines; 
 and even to our dim, earthly eyes it seems at 
 times as if it would surely have been well that 
 the young Christian should have been left to 
 fight his Lord’s battles in the land where the sol- 
 diers of Christ are so few. But God’s ways are 
 not as our ways. He has called Yau-ting to the 
 higher service above; his short, bright life is 
 over, but the memory of it lives in many a heart 
 that loved him. 
 
 1 2 
 
 Romp-Life in China. 
 
210 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SHIN-KUJ OR, THE NEW DAUGHTER. 
 
 In a village in the Han-chwan district, about 
 ioo miles from the mart of Hankow, there lived 
 some years ago a family of the name of Hu. 
 
 The father was the possessor of a small piece 
 of land which he cultivated himself, and he also 
 followed the trade of a barber. This business is 
 one which is held in no very high repute in 
 China, although the people are more dependent 
 than the men of other nations upon the services 
 of that fraternity. Indeed, the followers of this 
 calling, together with actors and mandarins’ at- 
 tendants, are prohibited from competing in the 
 great literary examinations, by means of which 
 the son of the poorest peasant, if successful, may 
 attain to the highest offices of State. 
 
 Hu was a man of high rank, however, from a 
 religious point of view, for he bore upon his head 
 the marks of the ordination ceremony, which is 
 performed upon lay brethren as well as those who 
 have separated themselves from all secular affairs. 
 And yet, strange paradox as it sounds to Christian 
 ears, although his position as a follower of Buddha 
 was so high, he was one of the worst characters in 
 the village. He was a man of whom his neigh- 
 
SHIN-KU; OR, THE NEW DAUGHTER. 21 1 
 
 bors stood in fear, and he was the leader in much 
 that was evil. 
 
 At last a preacher of the strange new faith of 
 the foreigners, called the “Jesus religion,” came 
 to this Hupeh village, and Hu, the reprobate, 
 heard the glad tidings of One who died that sin- 
 ners might have life. His heart was touched, 
 and he sought and found forgiveness for his sin- 
 stained past at the feet of Him who, in far-off 
 Galilee, was known as “the Friend of publicans 
 and sinners.” His whole life was altered; he for- 
 sook his old evil habits, and his changed beha- 
 vior was the talk of the country-side. He be- 
 came anxious to unite himself publicly with the 
 followers of Jesus, and in June, 1874, he was re- 
 ceived into the church by baptism. 
 
 Before this he had decided, to the great dismay 
 of all his heathen friends, to destroy by burning 
 what in their eyes was a most precious and sa- 
 cred document. It was the certificate of his 
 ordination, and was thought to represent so high 
 a degree of merit that large sums of money could 
 have been readily obtained for it. That their 
 neighbor Hu should so recklessly forfeit all claim 
 to this vast amount of accumulated merit seemed 
 to these villagers an act not only of desecration 
 but of foolish wastefulness. Yet it made them 
 speculate curiously as to wherein lay the attrac- 
 tion and power of this new religion which changed 
 men’s lives and made them willing to endure 
 
212 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 persecution and loss rather than give up their 
 faith — a faith too whose object seemed to be that 
 unknown Western Sage, who, because he came 
 from the West, must necessarily be inferior to any 
 holy man who had been born within the bounda- 
 ries of the great Celestial Empire. 
 
 There was such a change in Hu’s household 
 after he became a Christian that it was not won- 
 derful to find his wife was attracted by it. She 
 willingly listened while he told her of that Sa- 
 viour who, strange as it sounds to Chinese ears, 
 died for women as well as their husbands, and 
 offers his salvation as freely to the daughters as to 
 the sons of men. As she heard her heart was 
 opened like Eydia’s, and she became a follower 
 of Jesus also; and the little daughter of the house- 
 hold found there was a message for her as well. 
 
 u Shin-Ku,” or the “New daughter,” was the 
 name she bore. I wish I could show you her 
 portrait, but that has never yet been taken. Pic- 
 ture, then, a bright-faced Chinese lassie with 
 raven hair that used to be gathered up into a long 
 thick plait, which hung down her back and was 
 tied at the end with a bright scarlet cord. She 
 wore a dress that never varied much, either in 
 shape or color. It consisted of a little tunic of 
 blue cotton, occasionally trimmed with pretty 
 bands of silk ribbon, and pantalettes of the same 
 material, ornamented in a similar way. Her 
 dark eyes grew bright with interest as she listened 
 
SHIN-Ku; OR, THE NEW DAUGHTER. 213 
 
 I 
 
 to the sweet story of the Saviour who placed his 
 hands on little children’s heads and claimed them 
 for his own. How different it was from the tales 
 of the idols worshipped in Chinese temples which 
 always filled her heart with fear and dread ! 
 
 Shin-Ku always remembers that day in au- 
 tumn when she left her quiet village home in 
 company with her mother and aunt and some 
 other friends, sailing down the swift waters of the 
 Han till they reached the great city where some 
 of their relatives resided. On they went for many 
 a mile down the fine stream which comes from a 
 distance of more than a thousand miles, flowing 
 from the far northwest of the empire. For many 
 a mile it twisted and wound its way through the 
 great plain, which is only occasionally diversified 
 by a low green hill or slope of rising ground. At 
 last they reached the place where the swift Han 
 discharges its waters into the grand Yang-tse- 
 kiang, giving its name to the great commercial 
 town of Hankow, or Han’s mouth. What a forest 
 of masts there was at this junction of the two 
 streams ! There were crafts of all kinds : fine 
 junks with ornamental sterns, laden with the 
 productions of far Sz-chwen, and others even 
 more imposing, from the province Kiang-si; 
 coal barges of rough build, intended to be bro- 
 ken up when their voyage was over, filled with 
 coal from the mines of Hunan. All these and 
 many more were there. Then what strange- 
 
2i4 
 
 HOME-EIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 looking houses lined the river-bank ! They seemed 
 to be standing on stilts. They were built on long 
 piles driven into the bank, and when the Yang- 
 tse rose and overflowed its banks in the summer 
 season it seemed as if the city was running over 
 into the river. But at the end of autumn, when 
 the waters sank some forty feet or more, the ap- 
 pearance presented was odd in the extreme. 
 
 How busy were the streets of the city ! They 
 were crowded from day to day with a busy throng, 
 and among them were strangers from almost 
 every one of the eighteen provinces. The shops 
 were wonderful sights indeed, with all their grand 
 display of outfitters’ stores and jewelry. The 
 ladies’ tunics were lined with the costliest furs, 
 and ornamented with braid of cloth of gold, and 
 the sleeves were trimmed with strips of embroi- 
 dery representing fairy landscapes, and birds and 
 insects of gorgeous tints. Then there were the 
 shoeshops. Was it possible that there were men 
 who wore those slippers made of delicate silks 
 and satins? Workers in gold and silver exhibited 
 hair ornaments, ear-rings, and rings of strange 
 magnificence. And the restaurants and cook- 
 shops, did any one ever dream before of the won- 
 derful delicacies there on sale? The village 
 child was in a state of delighted bewilderment as 
 she walked through the streets that seemed to her 
 so strangely grand. But there was something 
 else which interested her more than all beside, 
 
I 
 
 SHIN-KU; OR, THE NEW DAUGHTER. 215 
 
 and that was the Christian services which were 
 held in the small Chinese chapel. It made her 
 glad to be assured there were so many more of 
 her people who were the servants of Jesus too. 
 When the day of rest came round the little girl 
 with her relatives joined the other Christians in 
 their worship of the one living and true God. 
 
 It was always a glad day in the country vil- 
 lage when one or two Christian families met to- 
 gether and strove, by study of the Word of God 
 and communion, to help each other on in the 
 way of life. But when Shin-Ku was taken to 
 the Hankow chapel and saw the place crowded 
 on the Sabbath morning with men and women 
 who had professed their faith in Christ, when 
 she heard them singing with heart and soul the 
 praises of that Heavenly Father who gave his 
 Son to save them, her heart overflowed with joy. 
 Some people might have thought how small was 
 the number of worshippers compared with the 
 multitude of idolaters in that great city; some 
 might have thought the sound of many untrained 
 voices harsh and unmusical; but to Shin-Ku’s 
 childish heart it was the house of God and the 
 very gate of heaven. 
 
 In December, 1876, she, with her mother and 
 aunt, was received into the church by baptism; 
 not in the central chapel of the great city, but 
 in the smaller meeting-place of Hanyang, where 
 her relatives then resided. Soon after the little 
 
2l6 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 party returned to the quiet village by the Han 
 River, and the days in the busy town were re- 
 membered as a pleasant dream. Not as a dream 
 only; for the good seed which had been sown 
 in her country home had been watered and quick- 
 ened into vigorous life during that visit and was 
 now bearing fruit. 
 
 W hat a happy life she led, although quite 
 uneventful ! In the bright summer days came 
 the time of the cotton harvest, when most of the 
 women and children of the village went out into 
 the fields to pick the snow-white balls of down 
 just peeping from the pods. Everybody enjoyed 
 that time, from the small maiden of two or three 
 summers, who liked to imitate her elders and fill 
 her tiny tunic with the downy treasures, to the 
 aged grand-dame bent with the weight of years, 
 who was almost too old for work, but loved to 
 sit in the pleasant sunshine and listen to the cheery 
 gossip of the cotton-pickers. Shin-Ku enjoyed 
 it too, although she had frequently to bear many 
 unkind slights from her neighbors. They often 
 called her and her friends by unkind names, for 
 they were angry because, instead of worshipping 
 at the idol shrines, they loved and reverenced 
 One whose very name the people hated. For those 
 who love darkness rather than light have associ- 
 ated the name of Jesus in China with fearful sto- 
 ries of deeds of violence, and terrible atrocities 
 which exist only in their imaginations. No won- 
 
SHIN-KU; OR, THE NEW DAUGHTER. 21 J 
 
 der the unlearned country people are terrified at 
 the thought of any one connected with them em- 
 bracing this mysterious faith. “They know 
 not what they do,” was our Lord’s compassion- 
 ate verdict upon the maddened crowd which called 
 out, “Crucify him !” in the streets of Jerusalem. 
 Are not the same pitiful words repeated even now 
 when he sees the great multitude of the inhabi- 
 tants of the world he died for wandering in dark- 
 ness, and oftentimes, when they catch the first 
 glimmer of the glorious light, rejecting and turn- 
 ing away from it? 
 
 Besides the cotton-picking there were many 
 other little duties which kept Shin-Ku’s small 
 hands busily employed. Many silk-worms were 
 reared in the village, and the little girl had charge 
 of the busy workers which belonged to her father 
 and mother. She used to feed them with the fresh- 
 plucked mulberry leaves, and tend them with un- 
 wearying care till the time came when they re- 
 quired food no longer. What a pretty sight it 
 was, then, to see the large trays gradually filled 
 with the soft glossy balls of a light golden color 
 which seemed to take the place of her small 
 charges ! 
 
 Shin-Ku’s life had been, on the whole, a very 
 bright one, but a great sorrow was now threaten- 
 ing to overshadow it. Her loving mother, who 
 had trained her with tender care, and made the 
 religion she loved attractive to those who came 
 
2i8 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 in contact with her, began to fail in health and 
 before long became seriously ill. Very soon she 
 was called away from this world. 
 
 She left her lowly peasant home without fear, 
 for she knew that she was going to a land far 
 brighter and to a Friend far dearer than even 
 those she left behind. Only one thought dis- 
 turbed her, and that was the uncertainty of her 
 little daughter’s future. For in the days that 
 were gone by, before they had heard of the reli- 
 gion of Jesus, they had betrothed Shin-Ku to the 
 son of a heathen neighbor. These Chinese be- 
 trothals are as binding as a marriage, and the pa- 
 rents’ hearts failed them as they thought of their 
 little daughter at some future day becoming a 
 member of a heathen family, being forced to bow 
 down before the family shrines and worship in 
 the temples. This had hitherto appeared as a 
 distant fear, coming nearer it was true, but still 
 far off. But now that her mother was dead, noth- 
 ing was more likely than a request from the fam- 
 ily to which she was promised that she should at 
 once be given up to their protection. 
 
 The father, in dismay, sent up to the provin- 
 cial city of Wuchang, w r here his brother was then 
 living, and entreated him to try and see if some 
 arrangement could not be made to keep Shin-Ku 
 in a Christian home till she was some years older, 
 and stronger to face the opposition and persecu- 
 tion she would certainly have to encounter in her 
 
SHIN-KU; OR, THE NEW DAUGHTER. 2ig 
 
 new home. This brother was a most earnest 
 Christian man, but poor in this world’s goods. 
 He might have been in easy circumstances had 
 conscience allowed him to continue the old prac- 
 tices of his heathen life. He came to the Mission 
 House at this time to consult us about the mat- 
 ter. Very gladly I consented to take charge of 
 the little motherless girl and allow her to attend 
 our day-school in the city. But before this ar- 
 rangement could be ratified by her father a kind- 
 ly aunt who lived in the same village had offered 
 to undertake the care of her young niece. It was 
 the same aunt who on that long- to-be-remem- 
 bered Sabbath day had received baptism together 
 with Shin-Ku and her dear, dead mother. No 
 wonder that the child’s heart clung to her and 
 that she was happy in her home. 
 
 There were few exciting incidents in the life 
 of the country village, so it was not strange that 
 the visits of the foreign missionary were great 
 events in the life of the Hu family. The father 
 used to set aside all business matters and give up 
 his whole time to accompanying the pastor and 
 assisting him in preaching the glad news, not 
 only in his own, but in many neighboring villa- 
 ges. As a rule a kindly reception was given to 
 them in every place; stools were brought out of 
 the cottages for their use, and tea was offered, as 
 they talked to the curious crowds which followed 
 wherever they went of Jesus and his dying love 
 
220 
 
 IIOME-UFE IN CHINA. 
 
 for men. As evening came on the little band of 
 Christians, which was gradually increasing in the 
 village, gathered in the house of Shin-Ku’s fa- 
 ther. As one and another told of how, though 
 persecuted and despised for the dear Cord’s sake, 
 they had been blessed and strengthened in the 
 Christian life, it made the heart of the pastor 
 glad, and he thanked God and took courage. On 
 one occasion, while the Christians held commu- 
 nion together, a crowd had gathered outside the 
 house. Some of them were noisy and bent upon 
 making a disturbance, but others were anxious 
 to learn something of the new doctrine. From 
 dark till nearly midnight the Christians and the 
 pastor answered questions and explained difficul- 
 ties, till at last only a few inquirers remained. 
 
 The visitors had to be on board their boat that 
 night, and so must say farewell to these few sheep 
 in the wilderness. Shin-Ku’s aunt had pressed 
 upon the teachers a basket of her finest country 
 eggs, and the little girl begged with tears to be 
 allowed to accompany them to the river- side. 
 But it was very late, and the boat more than a 
 mile distant, so the good-bys had to be said in 
 her father’s house, notwithstanding the little 
 girl’s tears and entreaties. 
 
 Though still young, Shin-Ku was felt by each 
 member of that little company of believers to be 
 a true Christian, with the “warm heart” by 
 which they expressively describe those who are 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SHIN-KU; OR, THE NEW DAUGHTER. 223 
 
 earnest in their faith. It filled the father’s heart 
 with joy to see his little daughter following so 
 closely in the footsteps of her dead mother; but 
 whenever a thought of her betrothal came into 
 his mind he was filled with anxious care and per- 
 plexity. After careful investigation it was found 
 that some trivial formality had been omitted in 
 drawing out the deeds of betrothal, and he 
 thought that it was possible the family to which 
 she was promised might be persuaded to give up 
 a daughter-in-law who belonged to the despised 
 sect of the Christians. He decided at any rate to 
 make the proposal and try to get the matter ar- 
 ranged by mutual consent. But his hopes were 
 not to be realized. He found the lad’s family de- 
 termined that the betrothal should be considered 
 binding. His heart failed him, but he told them 
 he must insist upon the insertion of an additional 
 clause in the marriage contract. His daughter 
 was a Christian, and she must be allowed free- 
 dom to worship in peace the God she served. 
 They knew she belonged to the “Jesus sect,” 
 and yet they were determined she should become 
 a member of their family. Therefore, if they 
 failed to keep their part of the contract, and per- 
 secuted and ill-treated the child after her mar- 
 riage, he should consider he was at liberty to re- 
 claim her. The heart of the father was only 
 partially relieved by the protestations and prom- 
 ises of the family, but he could do no more, and 
 
224 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 could only leave the future in God’s hands. He 
 felt that at best his little daughter would have a 
 thorny path to tread, and could only pray that 
 she might receive strength to continue faithful, 
 and win, by her gentleness and love, those around 
 her to Christ. 
 
 Not long after this the Christians of the vil- 
 lage in which Shin-Ku lived determined to try 
 and do what they could to help their friends in 
 the city who were under the necessity of rebuild- 
 ing their chapel, which had been blown down by 
 a violent storm. The girl heard their conversa- 
 tion and saw the strings of cash or the few copper 
 coins being brought out as offerings. “ Cannot I 
 do something?” she asked herself. “I, who 
 have received so much, cannot I do a little to 
 help to build the house of God?” Quietly she 
 withdrew to her own little room, and there bend- 
 ing over the box which contained all her girlish 
 treasures, she drew from the very bottom a small 
 string of cash, only a hundred or so in all, and 
 amounting to not much more than sixpence in 
 English money, but all that Shin-Ku possessed. 
 Nearly every coin had a history. Here was one 
 of a special reign, which had been given to her 
 as a keepsake when cash was being counted and 
 strung; here another she had received from a 
 neighbor for some piece of work she had done. 
 She carried the little string of coins into the next 
 room with such a happy look upon her face ! 
 
SHIN-KU; OR, THE NEW DAUGHTER. 225 
 
 When she put her little offering upon the table 
 with the other subscriptions every heart was 
 touched. 
 
 “No, we will not take your money, child. It 
 is all you have; we cannot take that.” 
 
 Shin-Ku’s face clouded with sorrow and dis- 
 may. Would her Lord then reject the gift offered 
 with her heart full of gratitude and love ! No, 
 he would not refuse it; and seeing how her heart 
 was set upon making this offering, the Christians 
 consented to take it. And of all those gifts, the 
 fruit of much self-denial, none, I think, would 
 win a warmer commendation from Him who said 
 of old of a similar offering, “ She hath done what 
 she could,” than Shin-Ku’s gift of love. 
 
 I cannot finish this story for you, because 
 Shin-Ku’s life is not finished yet. She lives still 
 in the quiet Chinese village, striving in her hum- 
 ble way to live the Christian life amid many diffi- 
 culties and trials. 
 
 Do you wish to show your sympathy with her 
 and to help her? Then you can pray for her, 
 and the prayers that girls in happy Christian 
 homes send up on her behalf will be to her, 
 although she may never know it, a power to make 
 her stronger to live the life of Christ and let her 
 light shine amid the darkness around her. 
 
226 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CHIH SHWIN; OR, THE MANDARIN’S LITTLE 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 I had often noticed Chih Shwin’s bright black 
 eyes and intelligent face as he sat on a bench quite 
 near to me during the Sabbath services. I had 
 not been very long in China then; but the Chi- 
 nese faces, which to any one fresh from home 
 seem to look so very much alike, were beginning 
 to appear as distinct and different to me as the 
 faces of friends in dear old England; and, as I said 
 before, Chih Shwin’s was a pleasant face, and I 
 was attracted to it from the first. I felt a great 
 interest in him too for his father’s sake — his good 
 father, who was one of the most self-sacrificing 
 Christians I ever knew, either in China or in any 
 other land. He was a man who had been very 
 clever at the numerous games of chance which 
 are so common in China, and because he was an 
 adept at card-playing, could often earn large sums 
 of money by giving his advice to players. Wan- 
 dering along the streets one day, with his basket 
 filled with cases containing tapes, silks, and other 
 small wares, he strolled out of curiosity into the 
 preaching-hall situated upon one of the busiest 
 streets. There he heard the wonderful story of a 
 
chih shwin; or, the little page. 227 
 
 Saviour who came ‘ c not to call the righteous, but 
 sinners, to repentance. ’ ’ The message which came 
 to him that afternoon filled his thoughts and gave 
 him no rest till he had heard more of so strange a 
 faith. In the end he gave his heart to Christ, and 
 every one wondered to see how the new faith could 
 so entirely alter a man’s life and habits. 
 
 After this he seemed to live only to tell others 
 the good news that had made him glad. He was 
 in poor circumstances, but was never tempted to 
 use the day of rest for his business. When the 
 missionary was going on a preaching trip into the 
 country districts, Chih Shwin’ s father would often 
 ask to be allowed to accompany him, that he might 
 have the opportunity of telling his countrymen 
 who had never heard it the glad news. He always 
 refused to accept any payment for the time lost 
 from his business. At last he was attacked by 
 consumption, and to the end he tried to support 
 himself and his family by making fancy articles 
 of leather-work. If any one among the Chinese 
 Christians was in trouble or had sorrow of any 
 kind, he would come to Hu in his sick-room for 
 help and comfort. He passed away to his rest in 
 great joy and peace, leaving the memory of his 
 bright example as a precious legacy to the little 
 church in Wuchang. 
 
 But I wish to tell you about the son of this 
 good father, and how I was first led to take a spe- 
 cial interest in him. One summer Sunday after- 
 
 13 
 
 Home-Life in China. 
 
228 
 
 HOME-LIKE IN CHINA. 
 
 noon, when I had been in Wuchang for about a 
 year, the afternoon sendee being over, I was sit- 
 ting waiting till Mr. Bryson should have finished 
 answering the questions of some of the congrega- 
 tion who wished to speak to him. My little friend 
 Chih Shwin came into the room and began to 
 talk to me. Now it happened that I had in my 
 pocket a small tract or leaflet which had been 
 written by one of the Chinese Christians. It w T as 
 in simple ballad form, like many of the songs 
 which the Chinese like to hear. Instead, how- 
 ever, of some foolish tale of the strange doings of 
 the gods, or some sentimental love story, it told 
 of a Babe which had a manger for a cradle, but at 
 whose birth heavenly strangers sang sweet songs 
 of peace and joy to all men. It went through the 
 whole of the wonderful history in graphic, simple 
 rhymes. The characters in which the verses were 
 written were easy to read, and I asked my little 
 friend to go over them with me. He tried to do 
 so, but stumbled over many words and looked so 
 much confused that a coolie who was peering 
 curiously in at the door laughed aloud. “You 
 pretend to read!” he exclaimed. “Why, boy, 
 you hardly know a word!” Poor Chih Shwin 
 looked quite abashed — for Chinese boys are as 
 vexed at being laughed at as American children. 
 
 “How I wish I could learn to read better!” 
 exclaimed the lad. “Some time ago I used to 
 come regularly to the school Mr. Bryson carried 
 
CHIH shwin; or, the little page. 229 
 
 on here. Then he went back to England, and it 
 was closed. There is no Christian school I can 
 go to now, and father says I shall not go to the 
 other schools where the boys must worship Confu- 
 cius and the god of literature. How I wish we 
 had a Christian school opened here again. ’ ’ 
 
 I wished that too nearly as much as Chili 
 Shwin, but there was just one obstacle in the 
 way. You cannot open a school either in Eng- 
 land or China without some money to pay the 
 teacher and buy stools, desks, books, writing mate- 
 rials, and other necessary things; and where was 
 the money to come from? We thought about the 
 matter a good deal, and prayed about it; at last 
 a letter came from a Sunday-school in a town far 
 off in England. It said that the children of the 
 church of which John Bunyan was once pastor 
 had sent me some money which they had collect- 
 ed and wished to be used in teaching Chinese 
 children. How glad the boys and girls were 
 when I told them, and particularly some of the 
 older Christians, who knew something of Bunyan 
 and his wonderful pilgrim ! The “ Pilgrim’s 
 Progress” has been translated into Chinese, and 
 Christian appears in the dress of a Chinaman in 
 the illustrations, with pig-tail and flowing robes. 
 With this contribution we commenced our school, 
 and though often we had very little money to 
 carry it on, the gifts of friends have enabled us to 
 keep it open ever since. 
 
230 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 Chih Shwin was of course one of our first 
 scholars, and we were much pleased with the 
 rapid progress he made in all his studies. You 
 would have been amused to hear him as he 
 u backed the book” and repeated page after page 
 of his Catechism, or the Boy’s Classic, and chap- 
 ter after chapter of the Bible. He continued to 
 attend school for some time, till at last his father’s 
 serious illness made it necessary for him to do 
 something for his own support. A sympathizing 
 friend w T ho had some influence in the yamen, or 
 official residence of the Futai or mandarin, ob- 
 tained for him the situation of page-boy there. 
 So Chih Shwin left school, and was at once thrown 
 into the midst of a number of men who hated the 
 religion of Jesus and were always inventing wick- 
 ed tales about the Christians. He carried with 
 him in his little box his school Bible. Sometimes 
 he used to feel tempted to keep the sacred book 
 hidden away, fearing lest the other servants might 
 see him reading it and take it away from him. 
 Then he remembered all he had learned at school 
 as well as the wise counsels of his Christian father, 
 and determined that, although he was only a very 
 young soldier, he would not be ashamed of his 
 colors. He prayed for help, and God gave him 
 strength to be faithful. In his own little room, 
 when the day’s work was over, Chih Shwin might 
 have been seen poring over his book quite alone; 
 and for some time no one knew anything about it. 
 
chih shwin; or, the: little page. 231 
 
 But the mandarin, his master, one evening 
 suddenly opened Chih Shwin’ s door, and there he 
 saw the boy, by the dim light of the flickering 
 lamp, bending over his book intently reading one 
 of the beautiful Scripture stories. 
 
 The boy was discovered at last, and he ex- 
 pected nothing less than dismissal from the man- 
 darin’s service when he discovered that he was 
 connected with the despised sect of the Christians. 
 It was with a fearful heart that Chih Shwin placed 
 his Bible in the official’s hand, which was held 
 out to receive it. The Futai turned leisurely over 
 the pages, reading a passage here and there. Ap- 
 parently the verses which caught his eye were 
 such as met with his approval, for after a time he 
 returned the volume to the lad with the remark, 
 
 ‘ 1 1 have heard strange stories of that book, but 
 do not notice any evil teachings in it; you can 
 keep it if you like.” Chih Shwin felt as if a 
 great load had been lifted from his heart as his 
 master left his room, and his faith was stronger 
 than ever in the God who was able to protect him 
 in the mandarin’s mansion, just as He had pre- 
 served the little Israelitish girl long ago in the 
 home of the Syrian general. Not long after this 
 the Futai’s mother died, and, according to Chi- 
 nese custom, he was obliged to retire from office 
 and return to his native city, there for about three 
 years to mourn her loss. 
 
 The mandarin had become attached to his 
 
232 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 little Christian page, and asked Chih Shwin to ac- 
 company him to the far-away province of Kiang- 
 Su. So the lad went, and remained with his 
 master for about a year, till hearing of the serious 
 illness of his father, he gave up his situation, and 
 came the long journey up the great Yang-tse- 
 kiang, that he might see him once more before 
 he died. 
 
 After his return to Wuchang he was taken 
 into the service of an American missionary, who 
 allowed him to come regularly to his old class in 
 the Sunday-school. His master was much pleased 
 with the lad’s industry and attention to his duties. 
 After Chih Shwin had been with him for some 
 little time he felt anxious that a boy so bright 
 and intelligent, who was also a Christian, should 
 have greater advantages in the way of education, 
 so that in the future he might be able to teach 
 and preach the gospel to his own countrymen. 
 So Chih Shwin, through his master’s influence, 
 was admitted into a training college in Shanghai, 
 where many young men are being educated for 
 the Christian ministry. He has been there for 
 some years now and in time to come the God 
 whom he served in the mandarin’s yamen will 
 strengthen and bless him when he stands up to 
 proclaim the glad tidings of salvation through 
 Jesus to those who have never heard it before. 
 
BRIGHT HOPES CLOUDED. 
 
 233 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 BRIGHT HOPES CLOUDED; OR, THE STORY OF 
 A CHINESE SCHOOLGIRL. 
 
 IT was autumn in the Yang-tse valley, that 
 fairest season of all the year in the far land of 
 China, welcomed as joyously as the spring in 
 more temperate latitudes. Fanned by cool, re- 
 freshing breezes, the parched plains seem to revive 
 after the fierce heat of the long summer days. 
 Brilliant, many-tinted flowers spring up luxuriant- 
 ly in every tiny bamboo-fenced garden-plot. Gor- 
 geous coxcombs of stately height mingle with 
 sturdy sunflowers, whose seeds are used so plenti- 
 fully in Chinese confectionery. The promegran- 
 ate’s scarlet blossoms shine out like stars among 
 its glossy foliage, and the fragrant olive perfumes 
 the air. Chrysanthemums of a size and variety 
 of tint rarely attained in England delight the 
 gardener’s heart. 
 
 It was at this fairest season of all the year that, 
 some time ago, in a market town some twenty 
 miles away from the banks of the great river, a 
 little girl was born. There was not much rejoi- 
 cing when the news was announced, even though 
 the baby was the first child of the family. In- 
 deed, I think the parents thought that circum- 
 
234 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 stance only made matters worse. To have no 
 son was trial enough, but to have instead a use- 
 less, unwelcome girl made their position indeed 
 pitiable. But the mother’s heart rebelled against 
 the thought of drowning the baby girl in a bucket, 
 which was quite customary with her neighbors 
 when a child came which they did not want, and 
 somehow she managed to persuade her husband 
 to keep it. It was wonderful how fond she be- 
 came of the little one. I believe it was soon al- 
 most as dear as if it had been a boy. Before long 
 a name had to be selected for it, and as no one 
 would think of spending much time upon choos- 
 ing a girl’s name, they called the baby “Nine,” 
 because she was born on the ninth day of the 
 ninth month. This may seem very strange to 
 you, but in China it is quite customary to give 
 children names in this way. 
 
 Some people think that we are influenced a 
 good deal by the surroundings of our earlier days. 
 Little Nine’s were simple and plain enough, 
 poverty-stricken perhaps you would have called 
 them. But people do not trouble much about 
 comfortable houses in China. Even the rich 
 know nothing of what we call the comforts of 
 home, and little Nine’s parents were by no 
 means wealthy. The floor of their cottage was 
 literally a ground floor, for it was made of beaten 
 earth; they had only one or two windows in the 
 whole house, for it was considered very unwise to 
 
BRIGHT HOPES CLOUDED. 235 
 
 have more openings than were absolutely neces- 
 sary, lest evil spirits should be inclined to enter 
 by them. Over each of the windows they had a 
 little piece of red paper pasted, with the words 
 “Gen. Chang Tai-kung lives here.” This notice 
 was put out for the benefit of the spirits, who are 
 supposed to be frightened at the very name of 
 this general, who was a famous warrior of past 
 ages. The walls of the cottage were festooned 
 with cobwebs, and were very grim and dusty- 
 looking. It was out of the question, however, to 
 have them whitewashed, for white was the color 
 of mourning, and the first thing they might ex- 
 pect after such an operation would be a death in 
 the family. 
 
 But though you would not have thought little 
 Nine’s home a very attractive one, I think you 
 would all agree that the market town in which 
 she lived was situated in a very lovely part of the 
 country, and that out of doors everything looked 
 bright and beautiful. The little town nestled at 
 the foot of a lofty range of hills, some of which 
 were crowned with dark Coronals of fir-trees. 
 The highest of all was a lofty peak, with three 
 temples placed at intervals on its slopes, called 
 the first, second, and third heavens, the last- 
 mentioned being quite at the summit. These 
 hills looked down upon a vale of beauty — a fruit- 
 ful land, brought into a high state of cultivation 
 by the labor of the husbandman. Small squares 
 
236 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 of many-colored crops show that the land is di- 
 vided into minute portions, for there are few large 
 farms in China. Here are the light green leaves 
 of the cotton plant adorned with its snow-white 
 balls, the drooping ears of rice, and the broad 
 leaves of the tobacco plant and sugar-cane. There 
 are the feathery plumes of the graceful millet, 
 growing to a height of ten feet, and the beautiful 
 maize, its seeds gleaming like closely-threaded 
 pearls, surmounted with purple flossy tassels fine 
 as silk. Trees were more abundant in this neigh- 
 borhood than in many parts of China; graceful 
 bamboos make many a shady grove, stiff dwarf 
 palms spring up on every hand, and tallow and 
 camphor trees grow luxuriantly. The low hill- 
 sides are clothed with a growth of pine and maple 
 whose rich colors shine out gorgeously in the fair 
 autumn sunshine. 
 
 These were the scenes among which little 
 Nine lived, growing strong and flourishing in the 
 fine healthy country air. In winter she wore tiny 
 wadded garments; but in summer there was not 
 much difficulty about her wardrobe, because so 
 little clothing is needed in the long hot days. 
 Sometimes her mother would place her in a sort 
 of half-barrel with a stool inside it, leaving her 
 there to play alone for hours together. At other 
 times she would creep and tumble about the earth- 
 en floor till she looked a very brown baby indeed. 
 So she passed on from babyhood to childhood, 
 
BRIGHT HOPES CLOUDED. 237 
 
 and was soon taught to help her mother in cook- 
 ing the rice and vegetables for the family. She 
 learned also to spin and weave the snow-white 
 cotton which had been gathered from the fields. 
 Her life was not by any means an unhappy one, 
 and she knew nothing of sickness till she was 
 about six years of age. Then her mother began 
 to bind her feet, and she often felt worn out with 
 the pain the tight bandages caused. At last the 
 pain was succeeded by a dull numbness, and Nine 
 was discovered to be the possessor of feet so small 
 that they were the envy of all the girls of her 
 acquaintance. 
 
 It was about this time that the people of the 
 town in which Nine lived were greatly -excited 
 by the arrival in their midst of a strange “outside 
 barbarian,” as they called him. What an ex- 
 traordinary-looking being he was, to be sure ! His 
 hair grew all over his head and was cut rather 
 short instead of being nicely shaved off the fore- 
 head and braided into a neat queue, hanging for 
 a yard or more down his back. And as for his 
 garments, it was certain that cloth was extremely 
 dear in his country, or he would never have made 
 such a ridiculous figure of himself by cutting his 
 clothes almost close to his figure, instead of hav- 
 ing loose graceful robes, which everybody knew 
 were the proper garments for men to wear. He 
 wore a large wide-brimmed hat; doubtless that 
 was to hide his unshaven forehead; and his boots 
 
23S HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 were actually made of black leather, soles and all, 
 instead of being white like other people’s ! Alto- 
 gether this new arrival was such a strange-looking 
 character that it was no wonder the children ran 
 after him in crowds, and even the grown-up peo- 
 ple felt compelled to take a closer look at a being 
 so queerly attired. The boys would shout out 
 “Foreign evil spirit,” and several other bad 
 names after him; and the mothers would some- 
 times reprove them, boxing their ears for such 
 rudeness. But privately you might have heard 
 them informing their neighbors that really, when 
 people made such frights of themselves, and 
 dressed in the extraordinary fashion of these outer 
 barbarians, they could not expect children to be 
 respectful. 
 
 The people had many opportunities of watch- 
 ing the stranger, for he rented a house in their 
 midst and settled down there. They were never 
 tired of crowding round the dwelling and listen- 
 ing for any strange sounds that might come from 
 it, watching most carefully the while every move- 
 ment of the foreign teacher. 
 
 They had plenty of opportunities of doing 
 this, since the missionary had turned the front 
 room of his house into a preaching-hall and 
 might be seen there every day talking about the 
 new “Jesus religion” he had come to teach 
 them. Many people were constantly there, list- 
 ening as he talked, for the strange stories told 
 
BRIGHT HOPES CLOUDED. 239 
 
 about him made them curious. Some said lie 
 had come to kidnap and carry off their children; 
 others that he wanted to gain converts to the new 
 faith in order that he might extract their eyes 
 and make them up into the wonderfully-effica- 
 cious foreign medicines. Not a few were con- 
 vinced that he had been sent by the ruler of his 
 own land to win the people over and prepare the 
 way for the conquest of China, which he doubt- 
 less wished to possess, since he had conquered the 
 great western land near to them. 
 
 Others believed that because the missionary 
 now and then took walks in the surrounding 
 country he was seeking for some vast treasure of 
 priceless value hidden away beneath the soil of 
 their hills and vales. “For,” said they, “these 
 foreigners are not like ourselves; their strange, 
 light eyes can pierce far down beneath the earth 
 or water and see the wondrous treasures which lie 
 hidden there.” It was true that the stranger was 
 seeking for treasures of priceless worth, for you 
 know the Bible says, “What is a man profited if 
 he shall gain the whole world and lose his own 
 soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for 
 his soul?” 
 
 After a time, when he had been teaching and 
 preaching patiently for many months, the people 
 began to understand a little better his motives in 
 coming to their country. As in days of old, some 
 hearts were opened by the Ford and became low- 
 
240 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 ly followers and simple believers in the Lord Je- 
 sus Christ. A few there were too who, seeing the 
 foreign pastor was charitable and had a heart to 
 feel for those who were in trouble, thought it 
 might benefit them in some way to join the new 
 religion. There were people like these living 
 in St. Paul’s time; there are persons not very 
 unlike them to be found in Christian lands to- 
 day. 
 
 Little Nine’s father was, I fear, one of these 
 people, for he used to listen most attentively to 
 the preaching in the chapel and professed to have 
 become a Christian. After a time he was received 
 as a member of the church ; and his little daugh- 
 ter w r as henceforth known as Happy Nine. The 
 mother did not seem to become much happier, not- 
 withstanding the change that had come over the 
 family; perhaps the reason was that there was lit- 
 tle reality in it. She found it hard to endure the 
 jeers and reproaches of her neighbors because her 
 husband had forsaken his ancestors, as they call 
 it, and one day, in a fit of gloom, she took a 
 strong dose of opium, thus putting an end to her 
 life, and Happy Nine was left motherless. 
 
 As the weeks passed by her father was much 
 perplexed about his child’s future. It was diffi- 
 cult for a girl so young to be kept at home with 
 no one in charge of her, and he had no female rel- 
 ative to whom it was convenient to send her. 
 One day the missionary suggested that the child 
 
BRIGHT HOPES CLOUDED. 24.I 
 
 might be sent to a boarding-school for girls which 
 some ladies had established at a city not far dis- 
 tant. She was at this time about nine years of 
 age, and her father, after some consideration, 
 agreed to the proposition. Happy Nine was re- 
 ceived into the school and found there many girl- 
 ish companions of various ages. She was in- 
 structed with them in all household duties, while, 
 in addition, she learned to make her own clothing, 
 to read and write, and keep accounts. She was 
 a bright little lassie, quick and clever, with a 
 wonderful memory, and often during the vacation 
 at the New Year’s season, or in the days of sum- 
 mer, on her return to her home, she used to cheer 
 the missionary’s heart by singing to him the 
 hymns she had learned at school. It seemed as 
 if she had quite left behind her the old life of 
 ignorance and superstition. 
 
 And yet, though bright and quick when learn- 
 ing in competition with others, she was not natu- 
 rally an active girl. She loved to sit dreamily, 
 with her hands clasped before her, careless of the 
 ordinary routine of work or lessons, quite regard- 
 less of the flight of time. It seemed as if her nat- 
 ural character was one which would be moulded 
 more or less by her surroundings and companions. 
 With good influences all around her she chose to 
 be good. Would she, when trials came, be over- 
 come, too weak to battle for the right ? 
 
 When Happy Nine had reached her thirteenth 
 
HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 242 
 
 year one day a messenger came to the school 
 bringing news of the death of the boy to whom 
 she was betrothed. She knew little but the name 
 of the lad, and her teachers were somewhat sur- 
 prised to see how deep was her sorrow and how 
 violently she wept for many hours. Very soon 
 they discovered that her grief was not so much 
 for the dead as for the additional news the mes- 
 senger had brought. Her father had hastily be- 
 trothed her to another lad, the son of some people 
 who kept an opium-den. They were willing to 
 pay a considerable sum of money for a bright girl 
 like Happy Nine, and had consented also to take 
 upon themselves the maintenance of her father. 
 Notwithstanding the low estimation in which the 
 owners of such resorts are held in China, the old 
 man felt it difficult to reject the tempting bribe. 
 But Happy Nine felt the degradation deeply and 
 foresaw the miserable life that lay before her if 
 her father’s plans w r ere carried out. Not long 
 after, when he came to see her, she begged him 
 so earnestly to delay completing the betrothal 
 that, although the cards had already been ex- 
 changed and a feast given to celebrate the occa- 
 sion, he promised that he would not against her 
 wish conclude the bargain with that family, and 
 she must cease to fret about it. 
 
 No one believed Happy Nine’s father but the 
 girl herself, for every one knows the binding na- 
 ture of betrothals in China. It was, however, 
 
BRIGHT HOPES CLOUDED. 
 
 243 
 
 afterwards discovered that there had indeed been 
 a rupture between the two families, since the 
 keepers of the opium-den, whose name was Lin, 
 had refused to carry out their part of the contract, 
 having declined to support the old man when 
 they found how extravagant were his habits. 
 Matters were in. this unsettled condition for some 
 time, and then Happy Nine’s father, being anx- 
 ious to arrange another betrothal for her, tried to 
 settle the affair with the Lin family in an amica- 
 ble manner. He offered to refund the expense of 
 the betrothal feast if they would return the pa- 
 pers, seeing that they refused to carry out the 
 contract in full. But, hoping by delaying the 
 settlement of the business to obtain in the end a 
 larger sum, they refused to come to any agree- 
 ment with him. During this year of trouble 
 Happy Nine appeared to grow more thoughtful 
 than before, and one day asked permission to sit 
 down with the other Christians at the table of 
 their Lord. 
 
 She was old enough to be a teacher now, and 
 her father, finding that his schemes for money- 
 making in connection with his child’s betrothal 
 were by no means prospering, consented to her 
 remaining in the school three years longer, on 
 condition that the little money she earned should 
 be given up to him. But the Lin family never 
 relinquished the hope of finally obtaining posses- 
 sion of the girl. 
 
 14 
 
244 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 One day an aged man came to the school who 
 looked as if he had travelled far in hot haste, and 
 he told a sad story. Happy Nine’s father was 
 dying, he said, and longed to see his child before 
 he passed away. She must get ready at once and 
 immediately accompany the messenger to hex 
 home. There was something suspicious about 
 the man’s behavior, and Happy Nine, feeling 
 afraid, declined to go with him. It was well she 
 did, for it was soon discovered that the old man 
 was in the pay of the Tin family, and had been 
 instructed to decoy the girl away and carry her 
 off to them. 
 
 Not long after this Happy Nine’s father was 
 in reality taken ill and died very suddenly. The 
 Tin family felt that now their prize was secure, 
 since it would be an easy matter to overcome a 
 young girl’s distaste for such a marriage. Old 
 Mrs. Tin came herself to the school and painted 
 a glowing picture of the life of ease and pleasure 
 Happy Nine would lead when once she became 
 her son’s wife. She should have beautiful robes in 
 abundance and servants to wait upon her, and the 
 elderly dame looked scornfully at the plain school- 
 dress of blue cotton. But the young girl stood 
 firm, and because she knew there could be no 
 peace or happiness in a home which was also an 
 opium-den, she decidedly refused the old lady’s 
 offer. 
 
 More than a year passed by, and Happy Nine’s 
 
BRIGHT HOPES CLOUDED. 245 
 
 Christian friends were rejoicing in the hope that 
 most of her troubles were past. It was true that 
 secret messages had been sent by the Lin family 
 and letters conveyed to the girl in many ways 
 which it was difficult to detect ; but she always 
 confided in her teachers, and they were hopeful 
 that the family’s patience was wearing out. Yet 
 once again old Mrs. Lin came to the school, accom- 
 panied by several of Happy Nine’s early friends. 
 She renewed her offer of a life of imaginary ease 
 and pleasure. Was Happy Nine weary of the 
 quiet routine of school-life, not altogether unwill- 
 ing for some entire change in her surroundings? 
 I only know that in this last hour of strong temp- 
 tation, when her friends were rejoicing in her vic- 
 tory, she suddenly consented to admit her knowl- 
 edge of the betrothal, which was the point upon 
 which they were concerned. Without loss of time 
 she was hurried away to a mandarin’s office and 
 made to repeat her admission there. 
 
 Then, taking off the simple school dress she 
 wore, they dressed her in silks and satins and 
 carried her off in a sedan-chair. 
 
 Poor Happy Nine ! Sorrowful Nine rather, 
 for doubtless she has often since bitterly regretted 
 that in the hour of temptation she so sadly yielded. 
 A sad blight seems to have fallen on a life bright 
 with promise. We can but pray God to keep her 
 amid the evil that surrounds her ; though in the 
 midst of it, may she not be of it ! Not long ago, 
 
246 
 
 home-life in china. 
 
 on a quiet Sunday afternoon, a girlish face, weary 
 and sad, was seen among the worshippers in the 
 Christian chapel of the Chinese town of which I 
 have spoken. It was Happy Nine, who, with a 
 companion, had managed to come again to hear 
 the blessed teaching to which she had once loved 
 to listen in the happy school-days now past for 
 ever. Was she finding out for herself the blessed 
 truth that u God is a refuge and strength, a very 
 present help in trouble,” even when we ourselves 
 have helped to make the trouble? We pray that 
 it may be so, and because we pray we hope. 
 
CHWIN-E; OR, THE FADED FLOWER. 247 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CHWIN-E; OR, THE FLOWER THAT FADED. 
 
 I can close my eyes and see her face quite dis- 
 tinctly now. It was a gentle, lovable little face, 
 with a bright, attractive smile. She used to wear 
 her thick dark hair braided into a long heavy 
 plait, which hung down her back. It was usu- 
 ally adorned with some bright-colored fragrant 
 flower, while, according to Chinese custom, her 
 skin was plentifully dusted with white powder, 
 and a slight touch of crimson dye was often seen 
 upon her lips. She was the only daughter of the 
 family to which she belonged. They were in 
 very comfortable circumstances, and I think 
 Chwin-E was dearer to them than many Chinese 
 girls are to their parents. Her father was a Chris- 
 tian and very anxious about his little girl’s train- 
 ing, so he allowed her to come for some time to 
 our school. She was rather a delicate child and 
 her place in the class was often vacant. 
 
 “Where is Chwin-E?” I used to inquire of 
 the teacher, when upon entering the schoolroom 
 I missed her pleasant smile and the little hand 
 that was always slipped so trustfully into mine. 
 
 “ Ping-lian,” or “She is sick,” was the an- 
 
24S 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 swer I frequently received. Y et though her health 
 was by no means robust, Chwin-E was in one 
 respect more fortunate than the Chinese girls of 
 her acquaintance. Her small feet had never been 
 put out of shape with long cotton bandages, for 
 her father considered the custom so foolish that he 
 determined his little daughter should never have 
 to submit to it. So she was able to trip along 
 like any American girl; and though the children 
 of the neighbors would often make great fun of 
 her, laughing and pointing at her unbound feet, 
 which, they said, were most dieadful-looking for 
 a girl and just like a boy’s, I think they were 
 sometimes inclined to envy her when they saw 
 how easily she could move along. 
 
 Time passed by and we began to hope that 
 Chwin-E would grow stronger. She rarely won 
 any of the little prizes of illustrated books or pic- 
 tures which were given to the children who re- 
 peated correctly their chapters and hymns, but 
 she was attentive and painstaking, and never so 
 happy as when she succeeded in winning the ap- 
 proval of her teacher. But a day came that was 
 sad indeed for little Chwin-E, when her father 
 was suddenly taken away by death. After the 
 days of mourning were passed away the neighbor- 
 ing women used to call in and see our little schol- 
 ar’s mother, advising her as to what they con- 
 sidered her duty. They were all agreed that she 
 had been most neglectful of her child's interest, 
 
chwin-e; or, the faded flower. 249 
 
 and painted in vivid language the sad future which 
 they believed awaited her. 
 
 “ The very idea of allowing a girl to have feet 
 of which any beggar might well be ashamed!” 
 “Why, they were enough to ruin any girl’s 
 prospects in life; she would be fit for nothing but 
 a slave-girl. ’ ’ 
 
 Such was the unanimous verdict of the gos- 
 sips of the place. 
 
 Chwin-E’s mother was, unfortunately, one of 
 those people who cannot bear to sink in the esti- 
 mation of their neighbors, notwithstanding that 
 the course they are taking is the right one. It 
 seemed very hard to her that she should be blamed 
 for submitting to the will of her dead husband. 
 “ If only they had been bound when she was lit- 
 tle,” she used to say, u all would have been well; 
 but now, I fear, she is too old, her feet have grown 
 large, for she is twelve years of age, and the pain 
 she would suffer would be so great that, being a 
 delicate child, I fear it would make her ill.” 
 
 ‘ ‘ What nonsense !’ ’ was the reply of her neigh- 
 bors; “we will never believe foot-binding can 
 injure any one’s health. It is just an excuse 
 made by careless women.” 
 
 No wonder Chwin-E’s mother, who was a 
 weak-minded person, with little resolution, grew 
 only more perplexed, and at last, feeling she 
 could not endure the criticism of her friends, she 
 one day procured the long cotton bandages and 
 
250 
 
 home-life in china. 
 
 set to work to deform her little daughter’s feet 
 and reduce them to the much-desired smallness 
 which Chinese fashion prescribes. The poor child 
 suffered more than is usual, since the binding had 
 been so long delayed. She was an uncomplaining 
 little thing and bore the pain patiently, though I 
 heard afterwards that she was sometimes seen in 
 a corner of the house crying quietly by herself. 
 When upon going to the school I missed her 
 bright little face and inquired after her, I received 
 the same answer as of old. She was ill and could 
 not come. 
 
 The fierce heat of a more than usually oppres- 
 sive Chinese summer was upon us; even the na- 
 tives suffered severely, and malarial fever was 
 terribly prevalent. Sickness obliged us for a time 
 to leave the city; and on our return, when I asked 
 after Chwin-E, a sad story was told me. 
 
 Constant pain seemed to have sapped the poor 
 child’s strength, and when she was stricken down 
 with fever she was unable to rally from it. She 
 grew weaker and weaker, till at last, one August 
 evening, they saw the end was near. 
 
 “ Send for the teacher to come and pray with 
 me,” said the child; and when that good Chris- 
 tian woman came and knelt by the little one’s 
 bedside, she found the room crowded not only 
 with sorrowing friends but with curious neigh- 
 bors. With earnest w r ords she commended the 
 little sufferer to Him who is the Friend and Sa- 
 

 CHINESF CHESS-PLAYEKS 
 
chwin-e; or, the faded flower. 253 
 
 viour of children in every land. The poor weak- 
 minded mother stood by the bedside weeping bit- 
 terly. 
 
 “Do not cry, mother,” said little Chwin-B; 
 44 I am not afraid. I am going to be very happy; 
 why should you weep?” 
 
 The heathen neighbors who had pressed into 
 the room looked at each other in amazement. 
 “What did it mean that a child could talk like 
 that?” 
 
 44 She is not afraid; she is glad to die ! What 
 strange people these Christians are !” 
 
 When they returned to their homes that night 
 all that could change of Chwin-B was left lying 
 on the bed in the sleep of death, for the little spirit 
 had gone home to Jesus “to be happy,” as she 
 had said herself. We could but pray that some 
 of those Chinese women who had wondered curi- 
 ously over the death of our little scholar might 
 be led to seek the blessing of salvation for them- 
 selves — that wondrous gift which takes away all 
 fear of dying, since Jesus says, “I am the resur- 
 rection and the life: he that belie veth in me, 
 though he were dead, yet shall he live.” 
 
254 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 YANG KIEN-TANG; OR, THE BOY WHO BECAME 
 
 A DOCTOR. 
 
 More than twenty years ago two members of 
 the London Mission, Mr. Griffith John and his col- 
 league, Mr. Wilson, set out from the port of Shang- 
 hai on a journey of more than six hundred miles 
 up the broad yellow waters of the Yang-tse-kiang. 
 For several days they seemed to be voyaging 
 across some great inland sea, almost out of sight 
 of land. Before long they came to the city of 
 Nankin, once the capital of China and famous 
 for its grand porcelain pagoda, which was de- 
 stroyed by the Tai-pings, or long-haired rebels, 
 who had been for years ravaging the country. 
 Still onward by many a ruined town and city, 
 past the bold peaks of Lu-Shan and the entrance 
 to the Poyang Lake, till at last, after a journey of 
 twelve days, they reached the cluster of three cit- 
 ies dignified by the Chinese with the title of the 
 Heart of the Empire. 
 
 On one side of the river, here more than a 
 mile in breadth, stood the mart of Hankow, the 
 great trading port from which so much of the 
 black tea is shipped direct for England. Though 
 only five years before it had been burned to the 
 
HANKOW, FROM THE HANYANG HILL, 
 

YANG KIEN-TANG. 
 
 257 
 
 ground by the rebels, it had risen up from its 
 ashes, and seemed once more the flourishing town 
 of old. On the farther shore of the river rose the 
 yamens and pagodas of the provincial capital of 
 Wuchang, one of the great centres of Chinese 
 learning, which contains within its ancient gray 
 walls examination halls capable of containing 
 over ten thousand students. The small city of 
 Hanyang was close at hand; and a grand field of 
 labor the three cities seemed to the newly-arrived 
 missionaries longing to tell the busy thousands 
 which crowded their streets the glad news which 
 brightens this life with the hope of a glad life 
 beyond. 
 
 The missionaries decided to commence work 
 at once; and before the close of the year they 
 were settled with their families in two Chinese 
 houses in the midst of the populous mart of Han- 
 kow. Books were distributed and preaching car- 
 ried on day by day, both on the streets and in the 
 missionaries’ houses. The Lord of the harvest 
 blessed the labors of his servants, and about one 
 year after their arrival they had the joy of bapti- 
 zing twelve converts from heathenism who pro- 
 fessed to be trusting in the Lord Jesus alone for 
 salvation. One of the twelve was a teacher of the 
 name of Yang. He used to be seen Sunday after 
 Sunday in regular attendance at the house of God; 
 but for several years his wife was bitterly opposed 
 to his new faith, and tried by every means in her 
 
258 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 power to prevent him from taking their little son 
 to the Christian services. Not unfrequently, how- 
 ever, the father’s will prevailed, and little Kien- 
 tang, with his bright face, was seen sitting by his 
 father’s side listening attentively to the preacher’s 
 words. Probably he was all the more anxious to 
 understand what the teacher was talking about 
 because he knew there was a difference of opinion 
 upon the subject between his father and mother; 
 and he was puzzled to know if it was right to wor- 
 ship idols as his mother did, or if the unseen God 
 to whom his father made his requests, filling the 
 while his childish heart with awe, was really the 
 Being that people ought to worship. What strange 
 stories the neighbors told of the Jesus religion, and 
 yet his father was kinder to him than ever before, 
 and at any rate no dreadful things took place in 
 the chapel such as people talked about. 
 
 Time passed on, and at last young Yang’s 
 mother became a Christian also, and would often 
 come out to the chapel on Sundays; and at the 
 same time, when Kien-tang was a lad of about 
 fourteen, he also was received into the church by 
 baptism. He was a bright, intelligent lad, with 
 an attractive manner, which won for him many 
 friends. He had made good progress in his Chi- 
 nese studies, and his Christian training was by no 
 means neglected by his parents. 
 
 Towards the end of the year 18 66 it had been 
 decided to commence medical work in connection 
 
YANG KIEN-TANG. 
 
 259 
 
 with the mission at Hankow. A fine hospital 
 and dispensary were erected, and the lame, the 
 blind, and those who were stricken with various 
 diseases which the medical skill of Chinese doc- 
 tors could not heal, came in crowds to the foreign 
 physician. Large numbers were relieved and 
 w r ent on their way rejoicing. It was only natu- 
 ral that a clever boy like Yang should have been 
 much interested in this wonderful work of heal- 
 ing, and the doctor in charge, pleased with the 
 lad’s evident ability, readily undertook to train 
 him for the medical profession. For many years 
 he continued to study under the care of the suc- 
 cessive doctors who took charge of the Hankow 
 hospital; by each and all he was found to be an 
 apt pupil whom it was a pleasure to instruct. 
 One taught him a little of the English language; 
 and he made such progress in his medical studies 
 that, as he grew up to manhood, he might easily 
 have been placed in charge of the hospital. His 
 fame as a skilful young physician spread among 
 his countrymen, and not a few who would have 
 been unwilling to place themselves in the hands 
 of a foreign doctor anxiously sought for his ad- 
 vice and aid. 
 
 When Dr. Mackenzie was called away from 
 Hankow to commence the medical work which 
 has been carried on at Tientsin with such suc- 
 cess under the liberal patronage of China’s great- 
 est viceroy, Li Hung Chang, the young man, Yang 
 
260 home-life in china. 
 
 \ 
 
 Kien-tang, found in a large degree the responsi- 
 bility of the Hankow work resting upon him. 
 His home-life was happy. At the age of seven- 
 teen he had married the niece of the teacher 
 Shen, a man of considerable literary talent and the 
 principal native assistant of the Hankow church. 
 An attractive Christian girl was the betrothed of 
 Kien-tang, with quiet, gentle manners. The 
 young couple were married amid the rejoicings of 
 friends, both Chinese and English. Christmas 
 day had been chosen as the wedding-day; but 
 when the morning dawned the winter winds had 
 lashed the broad Yang-tse into such furious waves 
 that there could be no communication between 
 the cities, and as the pastors were then residing 
 on the Wuchang shore, the marriage was neces- 
 sarily postponed till the succeeding day. Some 
 two years after a little son was born to the young 
 couple, who received the name of Heaven’s Gift. 
 His parents received him as indeed a gift from 
 God, and he has now several brothers and sisters, 
 all of whom are being brought up in the love and 
 fear of their Heavenly Father. 
 
 As time passed on his fellow -citizens were 
 proud to recognize the skill and ability of the 
 young doctor. Some of the chief officials of the 
 province became interested in the matter and be- 
 gan to ask themselves why they could not secure 
 for a purely native hospital a man so singularly 
 talented as Dr. Yang. Money was readily sub- 
 
VICEROY LI HUNG CHANG, 
 

YANG KIEN-TANG. 
 
 263 
 
 scribed, a building purchased, and Yang invited 
 to take charge of it. After considering the mat- 
 ter the young Chinaman consented to accede to 
 the wish of his countrymen, but on one condition 
 only. He was a Christian, and must be allowed 
 to show his colors. If the hospital might be 
 conducted upon Christian principles, and daily 
 preaching and teaching carried on there, then he 
 would accept the position. Nothing had been 
 farther from the plans of these Chinese officials 
 than to connect their new medical venture with 
 the religion of Jesus, and yet, sooner than lose 
 the valued services of young Dr. Yang, they 
 agreed even to this distasteful stipulation. 
 
 The new hospital was opened on the 27th of 
 September, 1880, with a Christian dedicatory ser- 
 vice, and Christian preaching and teaching have 
 been carried on there daily ever since. It stands 
 on one of the busy thoroughfares of that crowded 
 city — a Chinese building, supported by Chinese 
 money; and facing the doorway, in gilt letters, 
 plain for all passers-by to see, is inscribed the leg- 
 end, “ To God be all the glory.” 
 
 Thank God for a life like Dr. Yang’s and for 
 the influence of such a life, which extends farther 
 than we are apt to realize ! Yang is not only a 
 skilful doctor, but a most eloquent speaker, and 
 few who have heard him at the church meetings 
 speaking in most expressive language of the 
 things which make for our peace but have felt a 
 
264 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 wish rise in their hearts that Christians in our 
 own land could hear him speak with the same 
 eloquence and fervor. 
 
 A younger brother of Dr. Yang is now, after 
 many years of study, preaching the gospel to his 
 own countrymen. He was always a clever lad, 
 
 THE CHINESE WORD FOR “.FAITH.” 
 
 like his brother, and when only a boy was famous 
 for the fanciful style in which he would write or 
 paint Chinese characters. The Chinese use their 
 characters or written words for many decorative 
 purposes. Several words are written upon a silk 
 or satin scroll and hung up in pairs upon the 
 walls of their dwellings. Many clever Chinamen 
 
f 
 
 YANG KIKN-TANG. 
 
 265 
 
 can take a word or character and make every 
 stroke in it have some curious meaning, and 
 looking like some particular object in the wri- 
 ter’s mind at the time. This was a favorite 
 amusement of the younger Yang, and one day, 
 some years ago, he brought me, when quite a lad, 
 the word for faith, which is written as you see in 
 the picture. 
 
 You will notice that young Yang had evident- 
 ly been studying the sixth chapter of the Epistle 
 to the Ephesians, and has made every stroke of 
 the character meaning faith stand for some part 
 of the armor of God in which St. Paul says the 
 Christian is to be clad. On the left hand you see 
 the shield of faith, and below it the sword of the 
 Spirit. The helmet of salvation rests above the 
 girdle of truth. Beneath these you see a Chinese 
 shoe, for the Christian’s feet are to be shod with 
 the preparation of the gospel of peace, and below 
 them you have a side view of the breastplate of 
 righteousness. 
 
 A gentleman in Scotland who saw this clever 
 picture-word was so pleased with it that he had it 
 painted in colors on a piece of glass, which was 
 put into a neat frame and sent out to China. 
 The last time I was in Yang’s house I saw hang- 
 ing upon the wall, evidently preserved with much 
 care, the picture which had travelled so far. 
 
 Home-Life in China. 
 
 15 
 
266 
 
 home-like in china. 
 
 1 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 KAI-KWEI; OR, THE YOUNG SOLDIER. 
 
 u Such a pretty girl as she was, with the tini- 
 est of 4 golden lilies ’ ! So clever too ! Eook at 
 her embroidery; why, she could earn quite large 
 sums by her beautiful handiwork; and to think of 
 her waiting for that young soldier ! Why, he had 
 been killed in the wars long ago, without the least 
 doubt !” These were the opinions and remarks of 
 all the friends and relatives of a young girl whom 
 I will call by the English name of “Water Eily,” 
 who lived some years ago in the ancient city of 
 Wuchang. She had been betrothed when quite 
 a child to a boy who was the son of a Christian. 
 While still only a lad he had enlisted in the im- 
 perial army, and had been drafted off with many 
 more to reinforce the regiments which had been 
 for some years struggling to put down the rebel- 
 lion in the far northwest of the empire. Very 
 occasionally letters would be received from him 
 telling good news of his advancement, but there 
 seemed little likelihood that he would be able 
 soon to return to his friends and home. 
 
 The Chinese are rarely in much haste to con- 
 clude their campaigns, and this one in particular 
 
KAI-KWEI; OR, THE YOUNG SOLDIER. 267 
 
 had been carried on in a most leisurely fashion, 
 the soldiers even waiting to sow the fields and 
 reap the produce as they advanced upon the foe. 
 
 More than a year, nay, almost two, had passed, 
 and no news had come from the young soldier; 
 so the girl’s friends came to the conclusion that 
 her betrothed had certainly perished on the bat- 
 tlefield. Even the widowed mother gave up the 
 hope of seeing her son again. The friends of 
 Water Lily having decided that there would be 
 no soldier bridegroom in the future for her, were 
 very anxious to arrange some other marriage at 
 once. 
 
 Chinese public opinion holds in high esteem 
 the girl who, in the event of the death of her 
 promised husband, refuses to be again betrothed; 
 should she even put an end to her life she is 
 thought worthy of the highest praise. This is 
 their ideal of what a virtuous and devoted girl 
 should do. But as a matter of fact, though a 
 family feels that a great honor has been conferred 
 upon them when a young lady acts up to this 
 high ideal, I think on the whole, to people who 
 do not place honor and fame above all else, it is 
 considered a more comfortable arrangement to 
 have - the girl quietly transferred into another 
 family. 
 
 But Water Lily, unlike the majority of Chi- 
 nese girls, was possessed of some decision of char- 
 acter, and having considered the matter, had come 
 
263 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 to her own conclusion. She had no wish to be 
 married and leave her childhood’s home, and she 
 did not find her life by any means so dull and sad 
 that she had any idea of putting an end to it. 
 She knew but very little of the lad to whom she 
 had been betrothed, yet she felt that without reli- 
 able news of his death she could not consent to 
 act as if it were a certainty. 
 
 These ideas of Water L,ily were very annoy- 
 ing to her friends, who were naturally inclined to 
 arrange another betrothal for a girl so bright and 
 clever. Had she not been promised before, it 
 would have been quite unnecessary to consult her 
 in the matter; but with the popular feeling about 
 the binding nature of such engagements, it was a 
 very difficult matter to act in opposition to the 
 girl’s wishes. All the female members of the 
 family had discussed the matter till it was quite 
 threadbare, and they had reached the point of 
 despair, when at last, one spring morning, the 
 young soldier who had been so long missing re- 
 turned “covered with glory.” In other words, 
 he had won the right to w r ear a mandarin’s but- 
 ton and a gay peacock’s feather in his best hat. 
 
 The family perplexities w r ere changed into re- 
 joicings, for it was decided that the marriage of 
 the young couple should be celebrated at once. 
 It was the bridegroom himself who related to us, 
 with much pride and satisfaction, the story of his 
 bride’s constancy, which the proverbial little bird 
 
KAI-KWEI; OR, THE YOUNG SOEDIER. 269 
 
 had carried to his ears. The marriage took place 
 with Christian ceremonies; for in the rough life 
 of the camp and the battlefield the young soldier 
 had remembered the training of his early days, 
 and was determined to have no idolatrous ceremo- 
 nies performed at his wedding. This decision 
 greatly dismayed his wife’s friends, who were 
 fearful that all sorts of evil and disaster would 
 follow, if gods and spirits were not entertained 
 and propitiated on such an important occasion. 
 We attended the wedding- feast, and tasted as 
 sparingly as politeness would permit the extraor- 
 dinary variety of dishes which grace the festive 
 board in China. 
 
 For some time after the young bridegroom 
 used to appear very regularly in his place at 
 church, attired in somewhat gorgeous clothing, 
 but a most attentive worshipper. He came up to 
 the Mission House at frequent intervals, and had 
 many strange stories to tell of his wild camp-life. 
 He informed us that he was well known as a 
 Christian by his comrades, and one night he was 
 captured with others by the foe. These enemies 
 were Mohammedans, and when they found that 
 Kai-kwei was a worshipper of the one God and 
 did not bow down to idols, they were much sur- 
 prised and had many inquiries to make. “We 
 also worship the one God; we have heard of the 
 name of Jesus !” they exclaimed. “ We will not 
 look upon you as an enemy,” and the prepara- 
 
270 
 
 home-life in china. 
 
 tions for his summary execution were immedi- 
 ately countermanded. 
 
 As time passed on a child was born into the 
 family; but how great was the disappointment of 
 the parents, for it was only a girl. The young 
 father was a Christian, and his wife was trying 
 to understand his teachings and follow in the way 
 which he said was the road to heaven; but it takes 
 a long time in some cases to change the feelings 
 and ideas about the events of every-day life which 
 have descended through countless generations. 
 The young wife wept bitterly over the arrival of 
 the poor unwelcome little stranger. 
 
 Then Kai-kwei took out his Bible, and turn- 
 ing to the third chapter of the Epistle to the Gala- 
 tians, he read how ‘ ‘ there is neither bond nor free, 
 there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one 
 in Christ Jesus;” and with these and other words 
 he tried to cheer and comfort his weeping wife. 
 
 As the baby girl grew older I liked to see the 
 young father proudly carrying his little daughter 
 along the green slopes of the city wall, carefully 
 comparing notes with us as to her growth and 
 that of our little son. I think he had quite for- 
 gotten his first feeling of disappointment, for he 
 tended the small girl with genuine fatherly affec- 
 tion. Some time after the little girl had a bro- 
 ther, who was welcomed and rejoiced over, as are 
 all Chinese boys, by every member of the family. 
 
 But perfect happiness, as far as the affairs of 
 
KAI-KWEi; OR, THE YOUNG SOLDIER. 271 
 
 this life are concerned, is not any more frequently 
 found in China than in America. Young Kai- 
 kwei and his wife had hitherto been living, with 
 little thought for the future, upon the savings of 
 his soldier life. He had given up his post in the 
 army because he did not care again to leave his 
 home for an indefinite time; but it soon became 
 evident that it would be necessary for him to find 
 some employment in order to supply the needs of 
 his family. Many things were suggested to him, 
 and at last he was recommended by some of his 
 Chinese friends to try and gain a livelihood by 
 taking a situation with some foreigner in the port 
 of Hankow. He would be well paid and would 
 still be near his home; these were very strong rec- 
 ommendations to Kai-kwei. So our young soldier 
 was soon seen turning his hand to domestic work. 
 I am afraid that the mysteries of an English 
 kitchen puzzled him exceedingly. He soon found 
 that his military training was the reverse of help- 
 ful to him, and before long he decided to give up 
 an occupation for which he was by no means 
 suited. 
 
 By-and-by a missionary, who was engaged in 
 itinerating work and was in need of a Chinese 
 helper and servant, engaged Kai-kwei to accom- 
 pany him on his journeys. The wandering life 
 suited the lad in many respects, though he would 
 have been glad to remain at home, had that been 
 possible. After a time he again accepted military 
 
272 home-life in china. 
 
 service in the yamen of a mandarin. He was fre- 
 quently on duty away from the city; but when at 
 home we rarely saw his face at the Sabbath ser- 
 vices, and our hearts were often made sad to find 
 the young man who had stood firm through the 
 hard life of the camp grow careless and indiffer- 
 ent amid the temptations of the city. 
 
 We hear very little of the young wife, whose 
 constancy and gentle ways had won her many 
 friends. It is not right that a woman should be 
 seen abroad, say the relatives with whom she re- 
 sides, and she is kept very closely indoors. 
 
 Does she remember the old teaching and the 
 good words she used to hear in the chapel ? We 
 cannot tell. We often have to work in the dark 
 in China, to sow seed with little opportunity of 
 seeing it spring up and bear fruit. Sometimes 
 missionaries grow weary and unhappy because 
 they see so much less of the results of their work 
 than they expect and long for. 
 
 The little hearts at home should often remem- 
 ber them, for even children can send much 
 strength and gladness to far-off China by asking 
 God to give it to those for whom they pray. 
 When we are sowing the good seed of the gospel, 
 and it seems long in springing up and bringing 
 forth fruit, there are some lines that now and then 
 come into my mind, as well as many beautiful 
 Scripture promises. 
 
 Shall I write out the lines for you ? 
 
KAI-KWEi; OR, the young soedier. 273 
 
 “ ’T is weary watching day by day, 
 
 But still the tide heaves onward ; 
 
 We climb like corals grave by grave, 
 
 But pave a path that ’s sunward. 
 
 We -re beaten back in many a fray, 
 
 But newer strength we ’ll borrow, | 
 
 And where the vanguard camps to-day 
 The rear shall rest to-morrow.” 
 
 It is God’s work we are doing in China, and 
 he has said that some day u the knowledge of the 
 Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the 
 sea,” and that u kings shall bow down before him, 
 all nations shall call him blessed ’ so no one need 
 ever feel discouraged. Do you not think so ? 
 
274 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 TA-KU AND ER-KU; OR, THE TEACHER’S 
 DAUGHTERS. 
 
 IT is well known that the literary men of 
 China are much opposed to the Christian reli- 
 gion. At first, when missionaries went to their 
 country, these scholarly men used to try and en- 
 courage the lowest of the people to rise against 
 them, and when a mob was formed they would 
 drive the foreign preachers out of the place. 
 Very often missionaries have been stoned, their 
 clothing torn from them, the houses in which 
 they have been living have been burned or pulled 
 down, and they have had to escape for their lives. 
 Some have been obliged to swim across rivers, to 
 escape into the open country, or to take refuge in 
 the yamens, or magistrates’ offices, while the an- 
 gry mob was battering at the door, calling out, 
 “Beat or kill the foreign demons!” Many Chi- 
 nese Christians too have had to suffer the loss of 
 all things because they have chosen to be follow- 
 ers of the Lord Jesus Christ; some have even lost 
 their lives because they would not deny him. 
 
 The first of these Protestant martyrs in China 
 was a man named Chea, a member of the London 
 Mission Church at Pok-lo, a town in the province 
 
TA-KU AND ER-KU. 
 
 275 
 
 of Kwang-tung. He had first heard something of 
 the gospel from a colporter of the British and For- 
 eign Bible Society, and wishing to learn more 
 about it he came up to Canton to receive instruc- 
 tion from Dr. Legge and Mr. Chalmers. He was 
 an elderly man, and after he became a Christian 
 he seemed to live only to bring others to the Sa- 
 viour who had made him glad. His earnest la- 
 bors were blessed by God, and in a year or two at 
 this remote out-station, which was only occasion- 
 ally visited by the foreign missionaries, a little 
 church of more than one hundred members had 
 been gathered together. 
 
 Such a good work could not go on without 
 arousing the opposition of some of these literary 
 men of whom I have spoken. They were very 
 angry when they saw so many coming forward 
 and professing themselves believers in One whom 
 his disciples adored as far greater than their re- 
 vered sage Confucius. So they determined to 
 punish severely the venerable man who had been 
 the first to become a Christian. 
 
 One October night a band of cruel men came 
 to Chea’s house and carried him away with them. 
 They took him to one of their houses and sus- 
 pended him by his hands and feet from a beam. 
 What torture he suffered all through that long 
 night of pain ! But the Lord Jesus was close by 
 his side, which made his sufferings easier to bear, 
 for Christ never leaves his faithful servants alone 
 
HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 276 
 
 in tlieir time of trial. All through two days these 
 men tortured and insulted the poor old Christian, 
 trying to make him deny his Lord ; but this Chea 
 had determined, God helping him, never to do. 
 So on the third day they carried him off to the 
 river-side, and, as he still refused to renounce 
 Christ, they put him to death and cast his body 
 into the stream. 
 
 What a change it must have been for poor old 
 Chea to go straight from the angry mob shouting 
 out for his blood to the glad welcomes and rejoi- 
 cings of our Father’s house ! 
 
 So you see the trials and difficulties of the 
 Christians of early days, which you find described 
 in the Acts of the Apostles, are being repeated 
 over and over again in China now, which makes 
 that portion of their Bible very frequently studied 
 by Chinese Christians. You will remember that 
 in those old days it was generally the wise and 
 learned men who persecuted the Christians and 
 hated them most; and it is the same in China to- 
 day. No doubt, then, you will think that mis- 
 sionaries are very glad when they see these clever 
 men coming into the chapels, asking many ques- 
 tions about our faith, and then after a time pro- 
 fessing to be followers of Jesus and desiring to be 
 baptized. Yes, they are glad; but they are al- 
 most always afraid that these men are not really 
 Christians, but are asking to belong to the church 
 in the hope that some of the missionaries will 
 
TA-KU AND ER-KU. 277 
 
 be wanting teachers for themselves or for their 
 schools and so be inclined to employ them. 
 
 There are many literary men in China, be- 
 cause every one thinks it much better to be a 
 scholar than to be a farmer or a merchant; and 
 so a large number of these clever people are very 
 poor and always very anxious to get into situa- 
 tions. Not unfrequently some of these learned 
 men will say they have determined to be Chris- 
 tians, when they do not understand what it means 
 to have their hearts changed. They think they 
 can become Christians by calling themselves by 
 the name of Jesus; but we know that whether a 
 man is an Englishman or a Chinaman he cannot 
 become a Christian in that way. It is not only 
 an outside change in our lives, but an inside 
 change in our hearts, that we need, and if we 
 come to Jesus in simple faith he will work the 
 change for us. 
 
 The missionaries have been often disappointed 
 with clever people who have pretended to be 
 Christians and afterwards shown clearly by their 
 conduct that they did not love Jesus at all. So 
 they usually keep literary men waiting a long 
 time before they receive them into the church, 
 lest they should afterwards bring disgrace upon 
 the name of Christ. 
 
 I want to tell you about the two daughters of 
 a teacher whose name, was Wu. He was baptized 
 in the summer of 1871, and in the next year his 
 
278 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 wife, with, her two little daughters, Ta-ku and 
 Er-ku, was received into the church at Wu- 
 chang. Mrs. Wu was an earnest Christian wo- 
 man, and she trained up her little daughters in 
 the love and fear of God. But Mr. Wu, or teach- 
 er Wu, as he was called, was a very different 
 character. He could not understand what the 
 other Christians meant when they talked about 
 the happiness they had in following Christ. He 
 thought if he never worshipped idols, since he 
 had given up the ancestral tablets and came 
 regularly to the Sabbath services, it was quite 
 enough. He used to teach his little girls to read 
 and write, consequently they were much better 
 educated than most Chinese girls. 
 
 About three years after her baptism Mrs. Wu’s 
 health, which had always been delicate, began 
 seriously to fail. Before long she knew that she 
 could not hope to recover; so she told her little 
 girls she must soon leave them, and entreated 
 them to remember all she had taught them and 
 try to follow Christ, taking all their sorrows and 
 difficulties to him in prayer. 
 
 Soon after she fell asleep in Jesus. Not long 
 after his wife’s death Mr. Wu began to think 
 about betrothing his daughters, for, indeed, this 
 matter had been delayed longer than is usual in 
 China. He had no son, and wanted to get a 
 young man who would be willing to come and 
 live with him and act a son’s part to him. 
 
TA-KU AND ER-KU. 
 
 279 
 
 It is not uncommon for students who have ob- 
 tained a high degree at the literary examinations 
 to advertise their willingness to become the sons- 
 in-law of rich men. Mr. Wu discovered a young 
 man whom he thought likely to make a suitable 
 son-in-law in the person of a young military man- 
 darin of inferior rank. When his little daughter 
 heard of the negotiations which were going on 
 she wept bitterly and begged her father not to 
 conclude the betrothal, since the man was not a 
 Christian. The girls had remembered the teach- 
 ings of their mother and as often as they were 
 allowed would attend the Sunday services. One 
 Sabbath morning the preacher took for his text 
 the words, ‘ ‘ Be ye not unequally yoked together 
 with unbelievers,” and dwelt upon the truth that 
 the Christians who disobeyed this command and 
 married those who were still idolaters could not 
 expect God’s blessing upon them. The young 
 girl went home in great distress, and implored 
 her father to allow her to remain at home unmar- 
 ried, since she feared to disobey God’s command- 
 ment. Mr. Wu refused to listen to his child’s 
 entreaties, for, he said, it was quite time she was 
 married, and there was no one among the Chris- 
 tians who were not betrothed to whom he cared to 
 give her. 
 
 So the matter was arranged. Before long the 
 marriage took place, but the young wife came no 
 more to the Christian services, since her husband 
 
28 o 
 
 home-life in china. 
 
 did not consider it would be respectable for Her to 
 be seen out of doors. Only once or twice in the 
 year, when she was allowed to visit her mother’s 
 grave, she would call at the Mission House on 
 the way and I was able to talk to her a little 
 about her mother’s God. But the home influen- 
 ces were too strong for her, and she seemed to 
 have grown to a great extent indifferent to the 
 subjects which had once so deeply interested 
 her. 
 
 The younger sister, Er-ku, was still allowed 
 to come to Christian worship at intervals as well 
 as to attend the women’s Bible-class held at the 
 Mission House. I remember one afternoon the 
 women had been holding a little prayer-meeting. 
 When it was nearly over Er-ku tremblingly lifted 
 her voice in prayer; she asked that God would 
 change the heart of her sister’s husband so that 
 he might become a Christian, and that the sister 
 herself might not be led astray by her marriage 
 with a heathen. 
 
 About this time Mr. Wu determined to enter 
 into business as a cotton merchant, and he went 
 into partnership with a man who lived in a town 
 about a hundred miles from Wuchang. For a 
 time everything went well with them, till Mr. 
 Wu discovered that his partner expected him to 
 pay all the debts, while he retained the profits. 
 Mr. Wu was naturally very indignant; but as an 
 appeal to native justice would not bring any speedy 
 
TA-KU AND ER-KU. 
 
 28 l 
 
 redress, lie bethought him that he might at least 
 try what an appeal to the British Consul, through 
 the missionary, would do for him. He was much 
 annoyed when he found that, since he was by no 
 means suffering on account of his Christianity, 
 the pastor could not help him in this way. See- 
 ing that this hope failed him, he declared his in- 
 tention of applying to the Roman-catholic priests, 
 who would, he said, without doubt lend him their 
 powerful aid. 
 
 Poor Mr. Wu ! how little he understood the 
 real nature of the religion of Christ. He was like 
 many of the people who followed Jesus when he 
 lived on the earth, seeking after the loaves and 
 fishes, expecting that our Lord would be made 
 an earthly king and give his followers power and 
 influence in this world. 
 
 As the time passed on we began to be afraid 
 that Mr. Wu would arrange a marriage for his 
 younger daughter and that we should miss Er- 
 ku’s bright, attentive face among the little band 
 of Christian women and girls. So we were much 
 pleased to hear that there was some idea of be- 
 trothing the girl to Chiang-Swei, the young son of 
 the preacher. I found that, contrary to the usual 
 Chinese custom, the marriage had been proposed 
 and was most desired by the friends of the girl, 
 while the preacher was inclined to hesitate about 
 the matter, since he neither liked nor respected 
 the father of Er-ku. The young people had played 
 
 16 
 
282 
 
 home-life in china. 
 
 together as little children not long before, and 
 consequently knew more of each other than is the 
 case with most who are betrothed in China. Be- 
 fore long the affair was arranged at a feast pre- 
 pared by the father of the lad. 
 
 Speaking about the marriage, the old preacher 
 said to me, u Er-ku is a little older than our son; 
 it would have been better had she been younger; 
 and the father is not all that we could wish, but 
 we must leave the matter in God’s hands. It has 
 not been of our seeking, and certainly the girl 
 herself is suitable in every respect.” 
 
 So the young couple were married, amid the 
 congratulations and rejoicings of friends, at the 
 little Wuchang chapel. 
 
 Their future seems likely to be a happy one, 
 although at present, according to a very common 
 Chinese custom, the young wife remains in the 
 home of her husband’s parents while he continues 
 in his situation as assistant at a mission hospital 
 more than three hundred miles away, paying only 
 occasional visits to his home. Er-ku’ s previous 
 education has been very useful to her since her 
 marriage, and she has often been able to give 
 much assistance to her mother-in-law while she 
 has had charge of the girls’ school at Wuchang. 
 
HOW SWEI-KU WAS CURED. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HOW SWEI-KU WAS CURED OF RUNNING AWAY. 
 
 “ She is very young,” said the pastor, and he 
 shook his head gravely. “Had yon not better 
 put off the wedding for a time ?’ ’ 
 
 He made this remark in reply to a request that 
 he would that week go and marry a little girl 
 about fourteen years of age. 
 
 Swei-ku was the niece of one of our deacons, 
 and she was about the wildest Chinese lassie I 
 ever knew. You would never have dreamed of 
 speaking of her as having either a pleasing or 
 attractive face. But she had a funny little twin- 
 kle in her small black eyes, and a comical expres- 
 sion of countenance which sometimes reminded 
 me of Mrs. Stowe’s “Topsy.” I never heard 
 what had become of her father and mother, for 
 since I had known her she had lived with her 
 uncle only. He had arranged a betrothal for her 
 with a lad who was also under his guardianship, 
 but it was not intended that the marriage should 
 take place for some years to come. 
 
 In the meantime Swei-ku was taught to earn 
 a little money by doing needlework and to help 
 her aunt in various household duties. She used 
 to come sometimes with her relatives to the wo- 
 
284 
 
 HOME-LIFE in CHINA. 
 
 men’s class, but lier small black eyes would wan- 
 der over the room, taking note of every foreign 
 article it contained, and everything else was of 
 more interest than the lesson. The rough little 
 head with which she usually appeared made her 
 a great contrast to all the rest of the women and 
 girls, who always tried to look their best and 
 neatest when attending the class. 
 
 But there was one soft place in Swei-ku’s wild 
 little heart: she was much attached to the little 
 boy whom her uncle had adopted because he had 
 no children of his own. Whenever I appeared 
 anywhere in the neighborhood of the house Swei- 
 ku would make a rush indoors and bring out for 
 my inspection the baby boy, whom she evidently 
 looked upon as quite a superior being to herself. 
 But she was a very idle girl; she liked play very 
 much better than work, and when reproved for 
 her laziness would suddenly disappear for several 
 days together, no one knew where, to the great 
 alarm of her friends. Search would be made for 
 her in all directions, but without success; and 
 after some days Swei-ku’s black mop would ap- 
 pear looking in at the doorway, and she would 
 settle down again, as if nothing had happened, 
 for some months to come. 
 
 These pranks of the girl’s, which she seemed 
 to regard so lightly, were very annoying to the 
 family of her uncle. It was not at all respectable 
 to have her playing such tricks as these, and after 
 
HOW SWEI-KU WAS CURED. 285 
 
 she had disappeared on several occasions a family 
 council was called to decide upon what had best 
 be done with the refractory girl. 
 
 The advice of each one was that Swei-ku must 
 be married; once make her into a wife and she 
 would settle down quietly enough. Did ever any 
 one hear of such a recipe for changing a mad-cap 
 girl into a sensible one ? 
 
 No wonder the pastor looked grave and shook 
 his head, for the idea of wild little Swei-ku 
 turned into a married woman was quite too 
 extraordinary to be readily entertained. But as 
 the girl’s friends were all agreed that it was the 
 only way to cure her of running away, and they 
 had quite decided the marriage should take place, 
 it seemed useless to refuse to perform the cere- 
 mony. 
 
 So on the wedding-day Swei-ku appeared, her 
 small rough head hidden from sight under the tra- 
 ditional veil of scarlet. As she stood by the side 
 of her young bridegroom, a simple-looking coun- 
 try lad, I should not have been much surprised 
 to see her make a dart out of the open door .and 
 disappear from our sight. But no such catastro- 
 phe occurred. Swei-ku made the proper responses 
 and was safely married. She was marshalled out 
 of the chapel by the two elderly married women 
 who fulfil the duties of bridesmaids in China. 
 She was taken to the women’s apartment in her 
 uncle’s house, which had been decorated for the 
 
c 
 
 286 home-life in china. 
 
 occasion, while the principal room w^is prepared 
 for the wedding-feast. 
 
 For some time after this I saw no more of 
 Swei-ku, but when I next met her, I cannot say 
 how it had happened, but a great change had 
 come over her. Her hair was all drawn back in 
 womanly style, and her forehead seemed strange- 
 ly broad, for, according to Chinese custom, all the 
 short hairs had been plucked out. She actually 
 looked tidy for the first time. She was very de- 
 mure and quiet; all traces of her mad-cap ways 
 seemed to have been cast aside. “You did the 
 right thing in marrying Swei-ku after all,” I re- 
 marked to the pastor. 
 
 “ Do you think so? Well, I hope so too,” he 
 replied, though he still looked somewhat grave. 
 
THE STORY OE CHANG-FU. 
 
 2S7 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 refusing to bow down in the house of 
 
 rimmon; or, the story of chang-fu. 
 
 Our preaching-room, or the “Glad Tidings 
 Hall,” stands on one of the busiest streets of the 
 city of Wuchang. It is open every day of the 
 week, and the missionary and native preacher are 
 always there for several hours at a time, speaking 
 to the people, who curiously peep into the room, 
 and finally walk in and sit down to try and find 
 out a little about the strange foreign people and 
 the religion they have come to China to teach. 
 
 Here you might see a countryman with the 
 basket full of things he has come into the city to 
 buy set down by his side. Next to him there is 
 possibly a pedler, who has left his Case of cord 
 and tapes just inside the door. Not far off are a 
 company of coolies, who have been waiting some 
 time to be hired, or have finished some little busi- 
 ness of chair-carrying and are now resting for a 
 little time. Some of them look sleepy and drowsy 
 and pay little attention to the speaker’s words; 
 others are puzzling themselves as to the real rea- 
 son which could have induced the foreigner to 
 come to their land. 
 
 And now a group of young men, very impo- 
 
288 
 
 HOME-LIFE in china. 
 
 sing in their long robes of colored silk, have made 
 their appearance, walking in a stately manner up 
 the hall; looking, in some cases, over the wide 
 tortoise-shell rim of their spectacles, they intimate 
 that they have some questions to propose to the 
 foreign teacher. 
 
 “If this doctrine be really true,” one of them 
 asks, “how is it that we in China have heard 
 nothing of it for so many hundreds of years? 
 Had it been really a religion worth believing 
 surely Jesus would have been born in the great 
 Middle Kingdom instead of in that remote, un- 
 known little land of Judaea !” 
 
 They usually speak in this proud and scornful 
 manner, for they cannot bear to hear of any great- 
 er teacher than Confucius, a Chinese sage who 
 lived in the past ages. He was a very great and 
 wise man, whom the Chinese justly hold in the 
 very highest esteem, and the religion of the 
 learned men of the land is called by his name. 
 But he could tell them nothing about the future, 
 for when some of the people who were his scholars 
 asked him, he replied, “We do not know many 
 things about this life, much less about the fu- 
 ture. It is, therefore, quite useless to think about 
 it.” 
 
 One afternoon, several years ago, among all 
 the various people of whom I have spoken there 
 came in a boy about fifteen years of age, whose 
 name was Chang-Fu. Chang is as common a 
 
THE STORY OF CHANG-FU. 289 
 
 name in China as Smith is in England, and Fu 
 means simply ‘ 1 Happy. ’ ’ 
 
 This boy sat still, listening to all the preach- 
 ers had to say in reply to the many questions put 
 to them by the congregation. At last the people 
 began to go out into the street, a few at a time, 
 till every one had gone except young Chang. 
 The reason he had not left was because the 
 preacher’s son, who was a boy of about the same 
 age, had invited him to come into the house for a 
 little while and drink tea. This was the begin- 
 ning of good days for Chang, for he became a 
 very constant visitor at the preacher’s house, 
 since it was found that though so young he was 
 quite alone in the city. His mother had been for 
 many years a nurse in the service of a mandarin’s 
 family. This gentleman’s family had removed 
 from the city to spend some time at a house they 
 had in another province, and so the nurse had 
 left her boy in the care of a friend of hers, who 
 consented to give him food and clothing. 
 
 Some months had passed since Chang’s first 
 visit to the “Glad Tidings Hall,” when his mo- 
 ther returned again to the city. She immediately 
 set about obtaining a situation for him in the 
 family of another official. The lad was to wait 
 upon his mistress as a sort of page. Now this 
 lady was, according to Chinese ideas, a most de- 
 vout and pious woman; indeed, her friends felt 
 that there was no doubt she had accumulated so 
 
290 
 
 home-like in china. 
 
 much merit that the next time she was born into 
 the world it would be as a man. For many days 
 in the month she would take no other food but 
 plain rice and vegetables. Every morning she 
 rose at dawn of day and burned incense before a 
 little idol, which was placed in a beautiful shrine 
 in her own private apartments. While she was 
 performing these acts of devotion it was Chang- 
 Fu’s duty to light the candles about the shrine 
 and assist his mistress in burning the incense. 
 But while Chang-Fu had been paying such fre- 
 quent visits to the preacher’s house he had 
 learned that there was only one living and true 
 God whom men should worship, and that doing 
 reverence to these idols which men’s hands had 
 made was most displeasing to Him. The boy 
 thought often of these things and he became very 
 unhappy; he knew he could not keep his situa- 
 tion without assisting the lady in her devotions. 
 His mother would be very angry too if he was 
 disobedient to the lady; and yet what could he 
 do ? for he felt more afraid than all of disobeying 
 the one true God. 
 
 So one day he ran away from his situation and 
 found his way to the chapel, and seeking out his 
 young friend, Chiang-Swei, he told him of all his 
 troubles and begged him to plead with his father 
 to find some other occupation for him where he 
 would not be obliged to assist in the worship of 
 idols. The preacher, Pau, was placed in a very 
 
THE STORY OE CHANG-FU. 2gi 
 
 difficult position; the lad had made up his mind 
 never to return to his situation, and he felt he 
 must take pity upon him. So he employed him 
 as a sort of errand boy, giving him his food in re- 
 turn for his services; and in this way Chang-Fu 
 was received into a Christian home and learned 
 much more of that God, a knowledge of whom 
 had made him fear to worship idols. 
 
 Meanwhile the boy’s mother, who had again 
 left the city with her employers very soon after 
 she had seen him settled in his situation, re- 
 turned. In answer to her inquiries about her son 
 she was informed that for some time he had been 
 an inmate of the “Glad Tidings Hall.” The 
 neighbors, seeing the alarm and terror of the old 
 woman, only made matters worse by speculating 
 upon the terrible things that might have hap- 
 pened to the boy. 
 
 ‘ ‘ He will certainly become a foreigner !” “ He 
 will eat the religion, and those barbarians will be 
 able to make him do just what they please.” 
 These and many more were the predictions which 
 only added to the mother’s anxiety. 
 
 In a very unhappy state of mind Mrs. Chang 
 made her way to the preacher’s house, and stand- 
 ing outside the door, she called upon him in no 
 measured words to bring out her son, whom, she 
 said, he had kidnapped; and she called the Chris- 
 tian religion and the foreign teachers by all the 
 bad names she could think of. 
 
292 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 Then Mrs. Pan, the wife of the preacher, an 
 earnest Chinese Christian woman, came to the 
 door and kindly and politely invited Mrs. Chang 
 to come inside and sit down, saying her son was 
 just now away on some errand, but as soon as he 
 returned she could judge for herself as to the way 
 in which he had been treated. The poor anxious 
 woman was a good deal surprised at the kind treat- 
 ment that she received, but she waited with hardly 
 concealed impatience for her boy’s return. Only 
 those who know how a Chinese mother’s every 
 hope for the future in the spirit-world is bound 
 up in her only son can realize how hard was the 
 trial she had to bear. 
 
 After a while the lad returned. He told his mo- 
 ther all he had learned about the one true God, and 
 said he dare not worship or assist others to worship 
 idols. He told her of the kindness shown to him 
 by the Christians, and begged her to allow him to 
 remain where he was. The poor woman left the 
 preacher’s house that night feeling very unhappy, 
 though she had been somewhat reassured by the 
 polite and kind words of the preacher’s wife. At 
 last she came to the conclusion that for the pres- 
 ent she would allow her son to remain where he 
 was evidently well treated. Some months after, 
 Chang-Fu, at his earnest desire, was received into 
 the church by baptism, together with his young 
 friend, Chiang-Swei, the preacher’s son. 
 
 The members of the church are accustomed to 
 
THE STORY OF CHANG-FU. 293 
 
 contribute a small monthly sum for the relief of 
 those connected with the church who are in ex- 
 treme poverty or very sick, and for the expenses 
 connected with their worship. Chang-Fu was 
 only an errand boy at this time, but he was very 
 anxious to contribute his mite also. In addi- 
 tion to his food he received only six hundred 
 cash a month, not much more than half a dollar 
 in American money, but he asked to have his 
 name put down for three hundred cash monthly. 
 The deacons, however, would not consent to re- 
 ceive so much from him, as they thought it was 
 more than he could afford to give, and he seemed 
 quite disappointed at only being allowed to con- 
 tribute a smaller sum. 
 
 As time passed on Chang-Fu’ s worldly pros- 
 pects improved; he obtained a good situation, and 
 his wages were raised to about five dollars a 
 month. Some time ago, when he heard that the 
 Wuchang chapel was being repaired, he sent, as his 
 contribution for that purpose, nearly two dollars. 
 
 I am glad to say that Chang-Fu is able to give 
 his master satisfaction and performs his duties 
 well. I wish I could say that the lad’s mother 
 had become a Christian, but I cannot tell you this 
 yet. One Sunday I was glad to hear that a new 
 face I noticed among the women at the service in 
 the chapel was that of Chang-Fu’ s mother. Since 
 then she has been for a long time absent from the 
 city, and I have heard no more of her. 
 
294 
 
 HOME-RIEE IN CHINA. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 CHIANG-SWEI; OR, THE PREACHER’S SON. 
 
 Pau Ting-Chang is a man whose name is 
 held in high esteem by the Christians of Wuchang. 
 In former years he was a highly respectable mer- 
 chant, and a devout worshipper of the gods of his 
 ancestors. But he heard the gospel preached in 
 the Hankow chapel; he became interested, and 
 visited the preaching-hall again and again, till at 
 last he determined to become a follower of Christ 
 and cast in his lot with the despised members of 
 the “ Jesus religion.” In course of time he was 
 elected by his fellow-members to the office of dea- 
 con, which he filled for some years. 
 
 In the year 1865, after much opposition, the 
 consent of the mandarins was obtained to the en- 
 trance of the teachers into the citv of Wuchang. 
 These officials had done all they could to prevent 
 the coming of the missionaries, for they argued 
 that if, when the students came up from all parts 
 of the province to the examinations, they found 
 the foreign teachers living and preaching within 
 the walls of the provincial capital, they would im- 
 mediately consider they were countenanced and 
 protected by the Government. This was a state of 
 things they desired by all means to avoid. They 
 
THE) PREACHER’S SON. 
 
 295 
 
 had tried to drive the .Roman-catholic priests from 
 their midst some years before. Two of their num- 
 ber had been strangled by command of the vice- 
 roy, and their lonely graves among the rank grass 
 on the low hillside, without the city wall, were re- 
 membered and pointed out by a few who were in 
 the secret. It was no wonder that mandarins and 
 people consented only after long and wearisome 
 delay to allow the foreigners to enter their city. 
 
 The man chosen to fill the post of preacher in 
 the new chapel which was built in this city was 
 Pau Ting-Chang. His wife was a woman of 
 character, and had been an earnest Buddhist, like 
 himself. She was terribly alarmed and very in- 
 dignant when she found her husband had become 
 a Christian, and opposed him by all the means in 
 her power. It troubled him very much to find 
 that his wife became even more constant and de- 
 termined in her worship of the idols than she had 
 ever been before. 
 
 They had a child to whom the mother was 
 devotedly attached, a little boy a few years old. 
 The little one fell sick, and became dangerously 
 ill; the mother called in the aid of Buddhist 
 priests, who promised, upon receipt of a large sum 
 of money, to perform religious services in the sick 
 child’s room and save his life. They came and 
 repeated prayers, beat their gongs, and burned in- 
 cense; but all was of no avail; the little one died. 
 
 The poor mother’s heart was almost broken; 
 
296 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 she lost all faith in her false gods, and, in her 
 trouble, became anxious to find out what were the 
 teachings of the Christian religion. You can 
 imagine the joy of her husband when she told 
 him she also had decided to become a follower of 
 Jesus. 
 
 Another child was born to them, whose name 
 was Chiang-Swei, the boy about whom I am go- 
 ing to tell you. Mrs. Pau became as earnest a 
 Christian as she was once a Buddhist. She used 
 to train her little boy very carefully, teaching 
 him to kneel by her side and repeat the prayers 
 that little children at home learn— the same pray- 
 ers, though the words are in a different language. 
 Her most earnest desire was that Chiang-Swei 
 should grow up a good man and a believer in 
 Jesus. Her neighbors used to think she was far 
 too severe and particular with him at times. 
 
 He grew up not very strong, but a bright little 
 lad, dutiful to his parents, who were naturally 
 very proud of him, and much beloved by all his 
 friends. When I first went to China he used to 
 be very fond of coming up to the Mission House 
 and helping me while I was studying the difficult 
 Chinese language. He would tell me the news 
 of the city, and explain many things I did not 
 understand, stopping and repeating over very 
 carefully any words which he saw were puzzling 
 to me. 
 
 One day we made a bargain between us. Chi- 
 
THE PREACHER’S SON. 
 
 297 
 
 ang-Swei was to give me all the help he could, 
 as indeed he had already been doing, and I agreed 
 to teach him English. How delighted he was at 
 the prospect of adding a few more words to “Good- 
 by ” and “How do you do?” which constituted 
 his English vocabulary! I happened to possess 
 an English primer, and so we commenced work 
 at once. The meanings of the English words 
 were all dictated by me, and written down in 
 Chinese by my little friend, and then the sounds, 
 as nearly as possible, were put down in Chinese, 
 making a third column. 
 
 So anxious was Chiang-Swei to make good 
 progress in the new language that, wet or fine, 
 sick or well, he never failed to make his appear- 
 ance at the Mission House, now coming half 
 drenched by the heavy spring rains, and now 
 through the intense heat of the summer morning. 
 The hour I had promised him was frequently ex- 
 tended, and his memory for long columns of 
 strange words was most remarkable. A pupil so 
 diligent could not fail to make good progress, and 
 since every word he learned to read he was also 
 taught to write, English penmanship had begun 
 to be added to his other accomplishments. 
 
 As time passed on the question of Chiang- 
 S wei’ s future began to occupy his parents’ thoughts. 
 He expressed a strong wish to study foreign medi- 
 cine, since the skill of the English doctor in heal- 
 ing diseases had impressed him and his parents, in 
 
 Home-Life in China. X 7 
 
298 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 common with most other Chinamen. Dr. Mac- 
 kenzie, who was then in charge of the Hankow 
 hospital, kindly undertook to train the lad. In 
 the meantime the Church of Scotland had com- 
 menced a mission in the city of Ichang, several 
 hundreds of miles farther up the river Yang-tse. 
 They wished to open a dispensary and hospital, 
 as a means of helping on the work, and were ex- 
 pecting a foreign doctor to arrive shortly. Mr. 
 Cockburn, who is at the head of the mission, was 
 pleased to secure the service of young Chiang- 
 Swei as an assistant for the doctor. So his train- 
 ing was continued by Dr. Mackenzie with that 
 end in view; and when the Ichang doctor passed 
 through Hankow, on his way to his station, the 
 preacher’s young son accompanied him. 
 
 Mrs. Pau felt it very hard to part with her only 
 son, who was the child of many prayers, and yet 
 she, with the father, rejoiced to see the lad going 
 forth to take his place in the world. It was a no- 
 ble service, too, that of relieving the sufferings of 
 his fellow-countrymen, and at the same time tell- 
 ing them of a Saviour who not only heals the 
 diseases of the body, but cleanses and sanctifies 
 the heart and life. 
 
 He went forth from us followed and accom- 
 panied by many prayers. We were sending him 
 out into a new world, far away from all his old 
 associations and friends. He was only a lad, and 
 had been carefully guarded all his life. Would 
 
THE PREACHER’S SON. 
 
 299 
 
 lie stand firm when surrounded by temptations? 
 Our anxious fears were almost dispelled by the 
 earnest request which he made when he came to 
 say good-by: “Please do not forget to pray that 
 I may be kept faithful to Christ . 1 ’ 
 
 Going forth in this spirit, not trusting in his 
 own strength, it is no wonder that only good news 
 has ever come to his Wuchang home from those 
 under whose care he is working. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Cockburn have carefully watched over the lad, and 
 have delighted to help him forward in his English 
 studies. He has made such good progress that he 
 can now read and write as well as speak English 
 fairly well. Since the retirement of the foreign 
 doctor, some years ago, Chiang-Swei, under the 
 direction of the missionaries, has carried on the 
 medical work alone. 
 
 He was married at Wuchang, some time ago, 
 to Er-ku, the younger of the two daughters of the 
 Teacher Wu. Rain and sleet were falling fast on 
 the wedding-day, but within the chapel and the 
 house of the bridegroom’s parents all was bright 
 and gay. The marriage was attended by a large 
 number of Christian friends, the chapel was pret- 
 tily decorated, and the many-colored hues of the 
 Chinese holiday attire made the plain building 
 look very gay indeed. If the kind wishes and 
 earnest prayers of many friends could make the 
 future of the young couple a happy one, it would 
 be indeed unclouded. 
 
300 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 Chiang-Swei continues at his post in the 
 Ichang mission. A short time ago I received a 
 letter from him written in English. I think you 
 would, perhaps, like to read it, so I will copy a 
 part of it for you. 
 
 Writing last July from Ichang, he says: 
 
 ‘ ‘ I am keeping the Dispensary open with Mr. 
 Cockburn, and there are many patients every day. 
 There are more than six thousand since the be- 
 ginning of the year. In Ichang our Sunday- 
 school is doing very well. There are more than 
 thirty scholars every Sunday. We teach them 
 the New Testament and the Catechism, and make 
 them repeat a verse from memory every Sunday. 
 The war between France and China does not 
 make any difference to us in Ichang, but our peo- 
 ple seem to be very anxious to fight. I hope the 
 peace between France and China will soon be 
 settled. 
 
 U I constantly ask our Heavenly Father to 
 bless you all, and help you to return soon to Wu- 
 chang to work for God. I hope he will keep you 
 all in peace. 
 
 “I am, 
 
 “Yours very sincerely, 
 
 “PAU CHIANG-SWEI.” 
 
THE MANDARIN’S THREE DAUGHTERS. 3OI 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE MANDARIN’S THREE DAUGHTERS. 
 
 In one of the principal streets of the city of 
 Wncliang there stands a mandarin’s residence, 
 closely surrounded by the high walls which make 
 the dwellings of Chinese gentlemen look more 
 like prisons than homes to English eyes. If you 
 were allowed to enter, you would see, as I have 
 often seen, the prettily-decorated courts filled 
 with gay stands of fragrant and beautiful flowers, 
 the water-lily tanks, and the curious rock-work 
 arches. Behind all the other rooms you would 
 find the apartments of the ladies of the family. 
 
 In this home there were three young sisters, 
 who lived under - the care of several female rela- 
 tives and a brother, their mother and father hav- 
 ing died some years before. 
 
 They used to spend most of their time in work- 
 ing beautiful embroidery; the handsome decora- 
 tions of their brother’s richest robes were the work 
 of their delicate fingers. Sometimes, when they 
 grew weary of this constant work, they would 
 play cards, or, what they liked better than any- 
 thing else, listen to the gossip of the old women 
 who came, they said, to sell flowers or powder, or 
 some other trifling wares, but who were most wel- 
 
302 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 come because they always had so much news of 
 the outside world to tell. Just lately there had 
 been a great deal of whispering and excitement 
 among the elder women of the family when a cer- 
 tain old lady, who followed the trade of a mar- 
 riage-maker, made her appearance. 
 
 Of course, they would have to go away from 
 their home one of these days. How they wished 
 they could all go together; but they knew that 
 could not be. They had all been betrothed years 
 ago, and yet none of them knew anything of the 
 families to which they would belong in the future. 
 It was certainly strange. The eldest of the three 
 sisters was a girl of sixteen, the youngest only 
 thirteen. One of the old women who came around 
 was able to read. It was very interesting to hear 
 her, and the girls often dreamed over the stories 
 she read them. They were all about people the 
 like of - whom they had never seen — wonderfully 
 clever young ladies, who could not only read, but 
 write most learned sonnets and rhymes, and met 
 with the strangest of adventures. But nothing of 
 the kind ever happened in their lives. They often 
 wished that something new would occur to break 
 up the monotony of their existence. 
 
 It came at last. One day, in answer to their 
 puzzled inquiries, they found that arrangements 
 for the marriage of the two elder sisters had been 
 already made. How was it they had heard so 
 little of the matter? they asked in a chorus of 
 

 CHINESE COURTYARD. 
 
THE MANDARIN’S THREE DAUGHTERS. 305 
 
 voices. By slow degrees they discovered the 
 truth. No wonder there would be few rejoicings 
 when the wedding-day arrived, for circumstances 
 had altered greatly since the day when their dead 
 father had betrothed them as little children to 
 the sons of two of his neighbors. The little boy 
 who was to be the husband of the eldest girl had, 
 soon after the betrothal, been taken seriously ill. 
 People said that the marriage which had been ar- 
 ranged had in some way brought down evil influ- 
 ences upon him. At any rate, the lad had drooped 
 and pined till he was now dwarfed and stunted and 
 almost an idiot. But what about the second 
 daughter? She, poor little girl, listened for the 
 news of what her future was to be as if in a dream. 
 When it came it seemed to her that her lot was 
 as hard as that of her elder sister. The family 
 of her young betrothed had become much reduced 
 in worldly circumstances. All traces of comfort 
 and prosperity had vanished from them ; she would 
 have to live a life of degradation and poverty. 
 
 “And what of Mei-mei’s future?” they asked; 
 for even the dark cloud which had fallen over 
 them had not broken the tender tie of affection 
 which bound them to the little sister who crept 
 lovingly up to them. “Oh, she will be happy 
 enough; the family are rich and great, and their 
 son is a clever youth.” 
 
 In the quiet of their own chamber that night 
 the girls, who were little more than children, 
 
HOME-LIKE IN CHINA. 
 
 3°6 
 
 wept with each other over the hard lot that lay 
 before them. What could they do? How could 
 they escape from it all? Perhaps their brother 
 might have some power, and could prevent the 
 marriages from taking place; and if not, the elder 
 girl whispered something to her younger sister 
 which seemed to give her comfort, and they fell 
 asleep. Very useless was the appeal they made 
 to their brother on the next day; he was angry 
 that they knew so much about their future. No 
 one could break a betrothal — they well knew that. 
 He was as sorry as the girls themselves; they 
 must just endure it, for it was their fate. Poor 
 children ! they had wished so much for something 
 to happen to break up the quiet monotony of their 
 lives, and now it had indeed come. They would 
 get over it soon, the elder women whispered. Of 
 course, it was very sad news just at first, but soon 
 it would seem easier to bear : no women were very 
 happy in this world. 
 
 Night came at last after that weary day, and 
 if you had looked into the apartment of the 
 three young sisters you would have been surprised 
 to see that they were all dressing themselves in 
 their most beautiful robes and putting on their 
 finest ornaments. Could they be trying to see 
 how they would look in their grand wedding 
 attire? Their faces looked far too grave and sad 
 for that. The little sister, too, seemed to be en- 
 treating them to allow her to do something which 
 
THE MANDARIN’S THREE DAUGHTERS. 307 
 
 they at first refused. Then the little girl cried 
 piteously, holding them fast with her slender arms 
 clasped around them, as if she could never bear 
 to part with them. “It cannot be any worse 
 than this,” the elder whispered, “and at least we 
 shall all be together. ’ ’ Then she gave to each of 
 her sisters something dark and small which she 
 held in her hand. “No one knows anything 
 about it; no one can tell us. I wish we could 
 know; but no one does know. ’ ’ That was all, and 
 then each of the children fell asleep. 
 
 When the first rays of a lovely Eastern morn- 
 ing shone over the silent city, they stole in 
 through the carved window frames, where the 
 paper panes were cracked or torn, and fell upon 
 three young faces which lay there as white and 
 still as if they had been carved in marble. The 
 sunshine lit up into brighter beauty the gorgeous 
 hues of the rich robes of silk and satin in which 
 the girls had robed themselves for death ; but they 
 could not wake the silent sleepers, who, knowing 
 so little of either the joys or sorrows of this life, 
 and nothing at all about the preparation needed 
 for the next, had thrown their lives away. 
 
 Soon the shrill cries of the hired mourners were 
 heard resounding through the house, mingled 
 with the quieter weeping of those who felt what a 
 blank was left in the household. Messengers 
 were despatched to see if the girls were past all 
 medical aid, and some were sent to call in the help 
 
3°S 
 
 home-life in china. 
 
 of the foreign missionary. They could do won- 
 derful things, these strange people from the West; 
 let them come and try their .skill now. 
 
 What a sad sight it was for the missionary to 
 stand in that room of death and think of what 
 might have been and what was ! How they might 
 have been taught to look at life, with all its care 
 and trouble, as means by which our Heavenly 
 Father would lead them onward to the home 
 above ! 
 
 But there are many more girls in Chinese homes 
 leading lives with little of joy or brightness in 
 them, and sometimes filled with overwhelming 
 sorrow and despair. There is one thing only that 
 can brighten these Chinese homes, one hope that 
 can make lives weighed down with care worth 
 living, and that is the love of Jesus. It is this 
 message of glad tidings which we want you to 
 help us to carry to sad Chinese homes. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 309 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 A Chinese letter is lying before me as I 
 take up my pen to write this last chapter about 
 the young people of China. Such a strange letter 
 you would think it, written on thin paper of a 
 yellowish color, with pink flowers and figures all 
 over it. It was sent to me by a Chinese Christian, 
 and contains a message for all the young people 
 who read this book. It is a message of thankful- 
 ness, telling how glad the writer is that mission- 
 aries came to his country, and that he has heard 
 of Jesus, and is now happy because he believes in 
 Him. It is a message of earnest entreaty, because 
 it tells how much more needs to be done before 
 the many millions in that dark land of China can 
 hear of the Saviour who died that they might 
 live. 
 
 Before you read these words I shall be back in 
 China. Shall I be able to cheer the Chinese 
 Christians by telling them that many children 
 here are thinking of them, praying for them, help- 
 ing to send more good books and more missiona- 
 ries to them ? That would be a very good answer 
 indeed to the letter of which I have told you. 
 
 When I was coming away from China, more 
 
310 home-life in china. 
 
 than a year ago, a Chinese Christian said to me, 
 i 1 1 may not be able to write you a letter and send 
 it all the way to yon, but every day I will send 
 a message of prayer to heaven for you. ’ ’ 
 
 That, I think, is the best kind of letter; and 
 though you cannot answer the Chinese letter of 
 which I have spoken, from the quiet of your 
 homes you can constantly send up earnest prayers 
 for these Chinese children of whom I have told 
 you, that they may be taught to love the Saviour 
 who put his hands on little children’s heads and 
 said, “ Suffer little children to come unto me, and 
 forbid them not.” 
 
 A lady was talking to me the other day about 
 mission work in China, and she said, “I always 
 pray for the Chinese people every day; and then I 
 feel that I cannot stop at praying; I must do some- 
 thing to help forward the work among them. ’ ’ 
 
 Do any of the children who read this feel like 
 that lady ? 
 
 I know that some girls and boys do. I have 
 met with them since I have been at home. Some 
 say, ‘ ‘ I want to be a missionary when I am older, ’ ’ 
 or “If I live to grow up I mean to go to China 
 and teach the children about Jesus.” 
 
 I have a little pile of letters also which I prize 
 very much. They have each been sent to me 
 with gifts to take to Chinese children. Many of 
 these presents are pictures and illustrated maga- 
 zines. Some of them are pretty scrap-books and 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 311 
 
 albums, many of which I can see have been much 
 prized by their young owners. But the little 
 writers say, “We want to do something for Jesus 
 and for the Chinese children. ’ ’ Another says, ‘ ‘ I 
 felt as if I must send you something for the Chi- 
 nese children. Please accept these scrap-books 
 and pictures; we hope they will give them much 
 pleasure, and by interesting them help you in 
 your work of bringing them to Jesus.” 
 
 This is one way in which children may help 
 us in teaching Chinese boys and girls. But there 
 are many other ways, for money is needed very 
 much to send out more missionaries. Sometimes 
 men and women who would be very glad to go 
 out to China and teach the children cannot go 
 because there is no money to send them; and yet 
 there are still many large provinces, larger even 
 than England, where they have no missionary at 
 all, or else only one or two. Just think, if there 
 were only one minister in all our land, how very 
 few of you would ever have an opportunity of 
 hearing him preach. But that is how it is in 
 China. Some people have never heard anything 
 about Jesus before, and we have been asked, “Is 
 Jesus the foreign emperor? Plave you ever seen 
 Him?” 
 
 Just think for a moment about the terrible- 
 looking idols of which I have told you, that Chi- 
 nese children are taught to worship at the age 
 when our little boys and girls kneel down by their 
 
2,12 
 
 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 mother’s side and repeat the beautiful words, 
 “ Our Father which art in heaven.” 
 
 Then, when illness or misfortune comes into 
 the family, they imagine it is caused by some evil 
 spirit; and when at last the time comes for them 
 to die they know nothing of a bright life beyond 
 in the Father’s house of many mansions, but be- 
 lieve that a dreadful-looking figure, who is repre- 
 sented in some of the temples, comes with a heavy 
 chain to drag them away to judgment. 
 
 But long, long ago our ancestors were in very 
 much the same condition, and were bowing down 
 to idols and offering human sacrifices upon the 
 mountain-tops and in the forest glades. But 
 Christian people in other lands sent to those who 
 came before us the bright light of the gospel, and 
 so we ought to pass it on to others who are now in 
 darkness. 
 
 What should we say to a man who had once 
 been saved from starvation himself, and kept a 
 large supply of corn in his barns, refusing to re- 
 lieve the hunger of many who were in need around 
 him? to the man who had been saved from 
 drowning, who refused to hold the rope that was 
 to rescue others? Perhaps you will say you are 
 still very young, not able to give or do very 
 much. But have you forgotten that when our 
 Lord Jesus was on earth, and wished to feed five 
 thousand people, he did not ask any rich or great 
 man to give out of his abundance, but took the 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 3 I 3 
 
 live loaves and two small fishes out of the basket 
 of a boy who was standing there; and after he 
 had blessed it there was sufficient to relieve the 
 wants of that great multitude ? 
 
 The best offering any one can give is to con- 
 secrate himself for God’s service in heathen lands; 
 and it is not out of place that I should say this to 
 boys and girls, for most of those men and wo- 
 men whose labors as missionaries God has richly 
 blessed tell us they wished to give themselves to 
 this work, and decided, God helping them, they 
 would do so, when they were very young indeed. 
 One gentleman, who seems to have read a good 
 deal upon the subject, says in most cases he notices 
 they were often not more than twelve years old 
 when they first thought of it. And God expects 
 every Christian to do something: to every one he 
 says, u Go ye into all the world, and preach the 
 gospel unto every creature.” There are some 
 countries in Kurope where the law expects every 
 man to be willing to go and fight his country’s 
 battles. The vacant places in the ranks are filled 
 up by lot, and sometimes the lot falls upon a young 
 man whose parents find it very difficult to part 
 with him, and they will sacrifice almost anything 
 and pay large sums of money to induce a substi- 
 tute to go to the wars in his stead. 
 
 Substitutes are not to be bought to go and 
 fight our Lord’s battles in far-off heathen lands; 
 but surely those who cannot go should make some 
 
314 HOME-LIFE IN CHINA. 
 
 sacrifices, should give up something they value 
 much, in order that a substitute may be sent out 
 in their stead. 
 
 God does not look so much at the amount we 
 give, but he knows quite well what we are able 
 to give. You remember when Jesus stood by the 
 treasury in the temple at Jerusalem he did not 
 praise the men who cast in large sums out of their 
 abundance; but when the poor widow came by 
 and cast in two mites, which was all her living, 
 then he commended her. But I cannot tell you 
 what you must do or what you ought to give to 
 help to send the gospel to these Chinese children; 
 but if you go to Jesus and ask him, he will tell 
 you ; and if you obey him he will make your lives 
 very full of gladness. 
 
 And when at last the years of this life shall 
 have passed away, you may meet in the bright 
 land beyond the river of death with some Chinese 
 children who through you have heard of Jesus’ 
 love and gained an entrance there. Then how 
 glad you will feel that you were able to do so 
 much ! how sorry that you did not try to do more 
 to spread the knowledge of that dear Name which 
 is above every name ! 
 
? 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 
 am. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 GAYLORD 
 
 
 
 PRINTED IN U S A. 
 

 
 
DS725.B91 
 Home-life in China ...