Peeps Into China; Or, The Missionary's Children

erwise engaged, and had therefore not come to hear anything more about the Chinese and their strange doings-"I f

ead until he is eight or ten years old, and shave the rest. Sometimes he wears the tu

something now about the ch

ay from it evil spirits. At a month old its head is shaved for the first time, when, if its mother does not shave it, a hair-dresser has to wear red in which to do it. A bo

he ancestral

and the more this is worshipped the happier the spirit is supposed to be. On this tablet are names and inscriptions, which sometimes represent several ancestors.

," Sybil said. "Does anything els

ll, and be good-tempered." Sybil and Leonard laughed. "On this day the child also sits for the first time in a chair, when his grandmother, his mother's mother, who has to give him a gre

n a chair!" Leonard said. "And wh

f things, such as ink, pens, scales, pencils, tools, books, fruit, gold, or anything the parents like to arrange bef

, A LITTL

ore which he has to bow down, and raise up his little hands, whilst candles and incense are burnt in their honour. So it is no wonder that as he

earn lessons? or is

but although two or three Chinese ladies have been celebrated for great literary attainments, these are quite the exceptions, and

o into a boy's

that he meant to get all the literary honours that he could. Chinese boys are not allowed to talk at all in school-hours. Each boy has a desk a

' The teacher, as they repeat their lessons, puts down their marks. When learning their lessons they repeat them aloud. There are higher schools into which older boys pass, and t

see a school in China

NESE

en settled for a boy to go to school, the parents always invite the schoolmaster to a dinner, given expressly for him. Then a fortune-teller is asked to decide upon a 'lucky' day for the boy to make his first appearance at school, when he takes the tutor a present. No boy ever goes to school fi

any holidays at

of ancestors. Very often schoolmasters are men who have toiled very hard at their books, and yet have not succeeded in taking a very high degree, but sometimes having done so, they choose teaching for their profession.

to learn," Sybil said, "when they fir

GE SCHO

children learn names first; in others they have reading lessons, where all the sentences consis

ou please describe a

a number of rooms, generally on one floor. In large cities some houses hav

wonder that you always told me not to say that word. I don't think I shall ever want to say it again now

order to accommodate several branches of the same fam

eautiful lanterns hang from the sitting-room ceilings, sometimes by silk cords. The furniture consists principally of chairs, tables, pretty screens and cabinets, with many porcelain ornaments, and fans are very numerous in a Chinese household. Most houses have very beautiful gar

le rich or poor

rich, but also

that Chinese people smoke something el

pi

is o

after being made into a solid

that opium-smokin

more full enjoyment. Holding his pipe over the flame of a small oil-lamp beside him, he lights the opium, and then gently draws in the vapour which proceeds from it. Sometimes people smoke in their own houses, and sometime

CENE-AFT

sometimes acquired in less than a fortnight. Opium may first be taken in a small quantity to cure toothache; the small quantity leads to large quantities; the large quantities, or even small ones taken regularly, lead at last to the man becoming an habitual opium-smoker: and this means that the victim's h

r life to this horrid drug, knowing befo

est men thieves, and poor people even s

be cured, fath

ow and then we hear of an opium-smoker becoming a Christian and then overcoming th

d habits, I suppose," said Sybil,

L OPIUM

ant for both Chinese and English, for both grown-up and little people, to cultivate good habits. And more especially is this important in the

really sell t

inaman will not do for a parent. One of their superstitions is that if a father or mother be ill, and the child should cut away some of its own fle

"if a child were to do anything ve

ighbours are punished, and his schoolmaster is put to death; the magistrate of the

exclaimed, "when onl

that happen?

rly. Of course, it is very unfair, but the Chinese are often very cruel in their chastisments, and many criminals prefer death t

rong, their parents and s

ults are attributed

en, Leonard? Fancy when we do wron

bout Chinese punishments, so his father told

ese culprits used to be subject to very horrible tortures, such as having their fingers or ankles squeezed until they made confession; but I believe a good many of the worst tortures have now been done away with. One in common use is the canque, which is a collar made of heavy wood,

like to be a magistrate in China,

SE COUR

E PUNI

ter I arrived the prisoner was led in by a chain who immediately threw himself down on the ground before the judge. The crime brought against him was robbing an official of high rank. It was thought that he could not have committed the robbery alone, and was asked how it was effected, and who were his accomplices. He

, but gave himself up in place of his father, a m

Sybil's eyes a

NG-YANGSUI

ered all tha

be transported to save their parents, and the

was the real culpr

with compassion for hi

," Leonard asked, "as the son

feet, but in which he could neither sit down nor stand upright. R

was he l

instead of knives and forks, the Chinese always use when they eat. She must have found it difficult to get to him, as she was carrying a basket, as well as a baby on her back, for she had small feet, and women

dies have small fe

tell us first what became of that p

pented of the crime which he had committed. How long he remained in the cage I was never

all feet ladies, father. I thin

aller than, perhaps not as small as, othe

oes tha

ler by bei

nful it

dentation becomes made and the instep swells out. After a time the foot is soaked in hot water, when some of the toes will occasionally drop off. Every time the bandage is taken away another is put on, and tied more tightly. For the first year there is, as we

o silly as to have their l

l the Tartar ladies have natural feet. Anti-foot-binding societie

ople first think of do

t was to copy an Empress who had a deformed foot which she bandaged; but whatever the reason may have bee

ing carried on their slaves' backs

, and the captain says we may expect to be at Shanghai in another ten days' time, so I

ybil replied, "and hear how we get our tea-leaves. I

a "Peep-show" very much, only a very little persuasion was re