Where Love Is Secondary.

1895

A conspicuous difference between the English and Chinese dramas is explained by the fact that, whereas in the former love holds a leading part, in the latter it is relegated to a secondary place. In England it is a passion, in China a sentiment only; hence the thousand intrigues love gives rise to are, in the latter country, either thrown into the shade or tabooed entirely. Without their ardent passions many of our theatrical productions would lose their interest and most of their merit. An English, or, to use a wider term, a European playgoer, requires a due quantum of love.

In China, on the other hand, this demand finds little echo, since love there is not the chief theme of bard and painter. Convention and the strength of parental authority have crushed in a great measure those amorous longings which exist in the human heart, and as love, courtship and matrimony are even more prosaic in the far east than in our part of the world the first of these feelings, if handled as a passion, cannot powerfully arrest the attention of the multitude. — Nineteenth Century.

Printing in China

1895

Shun Pao, Shanghai Daily, Has Eight Pages of Thin Rice Paper.

Shanghai is China's chief port and contains about 400,000 inhabitants, who are under native rule, and the English, American and French "settlements," with 250,000 Chinese and 5,000 foreigners, all of whom are under foreign rule.

In that city tremendous congregations gather in the mission churches, and there are to be found the largest Sunday schools in China. In Shanghai is also the largest mission press in the world. More than 1,000 Chinese converts are connected with the different missions.

In the mission press electrotyping and stereotyping are done, and over 35,000,000 pages are issued annually.

The Shun Pao is the best paying and most widely circulated of the three native newspaper dailies of Shanghai. It is an eight page sheet, printed on the thinnest of rice paper. It is so light that it does not weigh more than a man's handkerchief and so thin that the paper can be printed on one side only.

The paper goes to press in big sheets, which are so folded that the blank side is turned inward when taken in hand by the subscriber, and so that there is neither cutting nor pasting. Owing to the thinness of the paper it has a greasy, yellow appearance, and it is printed so closely with Chinese type that not an inch seems to be wasted.

The headline or title of the paper consists of two Chinese characters, taking up a space not wider than one of the columns of our newspapers and not more than an inch in length.

Its price is 10 cash, which, allowing for the difference in currency, makes it equivalent to half a cent in our money. — Philadelphia Press.

The Telegraph In China

1895

Outing says that at first the Chinese were very bitter against the telegraph, as it was reported the foreigners cut out the tongues of children and suspended them on the insulators to transmit the message from pole to pole. Then, again, the wires disturbed the graves of the "Fingshin," the spirit of wind and water. The telegraph instruments used are mostly of London make. The system of telegraphing in Chinese is very simple. There are about 8,000 characters in the Chinese language. These are all numbered from 1 up and so printed in book form. It is therefore only necessary to telegraph the numbers. This system is used in the government dispatches.


Not a Free Fight

Dinks — The morning paper says the caucus ended in a free fight. Is that correct?
Danks — Not by a blamed sight. Every man in it had to ante up with $10 and costs. — Buffalo Courier.

The Walls of Peking

1895

The outer wall is about 27 miles in circumference. It was built centuries ago of mud and bricks. The inner and outer face are of the latter. Each brick is as big as a family Bible, and the interstices are filled up with mud and stones. The whole has long settled into a solid cement. Save for some damage done in one or two quarters by recent floods, this great wall is still intact. The gates number 18. They are insignificant, though finely arched, are not much wider than the streets and are only about 20 feet high. At night they are closed with great doors sheathed with iron.

The whole city forms two rough parallelograms, one being the Tartar city and the other the Chinese. There is another wall separating the two sections. The first is the Mantchu quarter par excellence; the second is given over to commerce inside the walls of the Tartar city — they are 60 feet thick at the base — are the government buildings, the foreign legations and the residences of the wealthy Tartars, which run around another high gray bricked wall, six miles (roughly) in circumference. This wall incloses the temples, pleasure grounds, and outer palaces of the sacred city, consecrated to the uses of the "Son of Heaven." Inside this block, again, is the Purple Forbidden City, the actual residence of the emperor and his court. — Fortnightly Review.

Clever French Potters

1895

They Imitate the China of All the More Famous Makers.

Entering a china shop recently, I asked the dealer the price of a small and very beautiful piece of Delft which had attracted my eyes for weeks whenever I happened to pass the window. Knowing it must be very expensive, I had so far resisted the temptation. Much to my surprise, the dealer named a very moderate price.

"It is not Holland Delft, you know," he said. "The same piece in Holland Delft would cost twice that at least."

"Well, what is it then if not Holland Delft?' I asked. "To be Delft it must be made in the Holland potteries."

"That is no longer true," said the dealer, smiling. "Strictly speaking this is not Delft, for it was made in France. At the same time we call it Delft, and even an expert of the first order would find it difficult to distinguish it from the genuine article except by the mark of the pottery on the back. To all purposes, artistic and otherwise, it is Delft. Now, here is a piece of real Holland Delft, and I will wager you anything you like you cannot tell the difference."

This was true, though the pottery marks were different. The dealer went on:

"Modern French potters are the cleverest imitators in the world, and of late years it is next to impossible to distinguish their imitations of famous Dutch and German and even English wares from originals except by the marks. You can always depend on the marks, for the French seek to imitate, not to defraud.

"Their industry and cleverness, however, are in a certain sense unfortunate, notwithstanding the excellence of their wares, for they make famous glazes and patterns cheap and common and thus lessen the value of originals.

"The many potteries at Limoges and elsewhere in France, besides making innumerable original creations of wonderful beauty, imitate about every other well known china in the world.

"Here is the flower pattern of the Royal Dresden, for instance. The time was when great prices were charged for that Dresden ware. The pattern was found in royal palaces and the homes of the wealthy almost exclusively. But nowadays the Limoges potteries turn out this pattern in a thousand forms and shapes till it is becoming one of the commonest on the market." — Exchange.

The Meek and Mild Chinaman

1895

The Chinaman, although proverbially meek and mild, is a man of dauntless courage and unflinching fortitude. Voyages over vast tracts of stormy seas, extremes of heat or cold, prolonged separation from home and all he holds most dear and sacred, contumely and wrong at the hands of men among whom he casts his lot — nothing of all this can turn him from his own purpose in life — namely, the accumulation of a little store of dollars which 20 years forward will make him a rich man in the country of his birth, will enable him to provide for his parents and erect monuments to the honor of his ancestors and will cause him to be looked up to and envied by his fellow villagers.

To achieve this he goes everywhere — everywhere, at least, except to lands whose hostile laws of recent years block him at the ports of entry, and in countries where such laws have been passed the very fact shows that the Mongolian has already secured a foothold. We are told that there is no place of consequence the wide world over where a Scotchman is not to the fore. For myself I expect as confidently, wherever I wander, to find my Chinaman. — Nineteenth Century.

Our Day On Earth

1916

Augusta registered its first Chinese voter this. year, Chin Bong, who runs a laundry there. He was born in Seattle 28 years ago and is married, his wife being at present in China. Previous to coming to Augusta he lived for sometime in Boston and was a voter there.

A. Leon Esty, who was in the automobile with James W. Rafter in the smash-up at the Gardiner railroad crossing of Nov. 2, 1913, has brought suit in the United States District Court of Vermont in the sum of $10,000 against the Maine Central Railroad. It will be remembered that Mr. Rafter won in his suit for damages and was awarded $15,464.99. It was claimed at the time that the gates were not properly operated at the approach of the train.

A grand record for faithful performance of duties was rounded out last Wednesday by Edward G. Wyman of Bangor, when he retired from active service at the First National Bank of that city, after 52 years of continuous service, of which 38 was as cashier. He was given an assistant and granted a long vacation, on salary. Few men anywhere has a longer or more honorable career to his credit.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 1.

Stolen Tapestry Sold

1916

New York, Sept. 18 — A Beauvais tapestry presented by King Louis XV. of France to Emperor Kien-Lung of China in 1766 and looted from the palace in Pekin at the time of the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty, has been sold by a New York dealer to a collector in Cleveland for $200,000. The name of the buyer was not revealed.

This tapestry is said to be one of a set of six designed by the French painter Boucher for the emperor of China at the king's behest. The subject is "the Chinese fair." The other five works still form part of the treasures of the Pekin Museum. The work sent to Cleveland is ten feet, seven inches high and ten feet, three inches wide.

Helpless China

1916

Mr. Boyce's Talks

Japan has served a new set of demands upon China. Taking advantage of the fact that most of the world is at war, the Japanese have been gradually moving in on their big neighbor, with the object of gaining complete control, at least, if not actually seizing the country.

The latest move follows a fight between Chinese and Japanese in Mongolia. Japan demands that China employ Japanese military advisers for its Manchurian and Mongolian armies, that it employ Japanese military inspectors in its schools, that certain Chinese army officers be punished and that "special interests" of Japan in Mongolia and Manchuria be recognized.

Over a year ago, when it became known that Japan had forced China to yield a number of important concessions, the United States sent a warning to both countries that we would not recognize any agreement between them which impaired American rights in China or endangered the so-called "open door" policy. That warning was too late, but it kept the record straight, so that if the "open door" was closed we could say that we objected.

The "open door" was secured in 1900, when John Hay, our Secretary of State, requested Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Japan to sign an agreement that the treaty rights of the United States with China would not be affected by new treaties entered into by them, and every one gave such assurance.

Japan will no doubt declare that she has no designs against the "open door" — and will go ahead with her plans just the same. The Japs could say, "What are you going to do about it?" but that would not be polite and would not be necessary, anyway.

The United States has lost out in China, where we had great hopes of building up an extensive trade. Also, we are naturally concerned over Japan's ambitions, because of the Philippines and the Hawaiian Islands. Japan has long sought to get hold of China, with her great area and enormous population, which could be converted into a strong force to aid in ruling the Far East. Poor old China cannot resist the demands of the smaller nation, for she is unprepared to defend herself, and it does not look as if it would do her any good to cry for help.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 6.

True Sports Never Die

1901

Bicycling is almost as old as the present generation, golf is far older, though Americans in general seem not to have heard of it till recently; football was played in China more than 1,500 years ago and in younger nations ever since they heard of it, and archery and horsemanship hark back to prehistoric man and are instinctive in millions. These sports cannot die or even be killed, nor can any others that are liked; they are as irrepressible and immortal as the human impulse to get out of doors and do something. — Saturday Evening Post.

Before and After

1910

The young Prince Tsai-Tao, during his visit to America, welcomed criticism of Chinese customs, and retorted politely with counter criticism of the customs of the United States.

The prince, at a fashionable luncheon in New York, sat beside a lady prominent in a rich and rather fast set.

"Prince," said this lady, "I think it's dreadful that in China a bride never sees her husband before the wedding day."

"Well," said the prince, with a grin, "here in America you never see him after it."

Chrysanthemums

1910

Chrysanthemums stand fourth in commercial importance among flowers. Only the rose, the violet and the carnation surpass them, and that chiefly because the chrysanthemum season is so short, while the others can be had from the florist nearly the whole year round. Greece gave us the name. Chrysanthemum means "golden flower." But the name was invented long before the big butter yellow globes were known in the Occident. It referred to the prevailing gold in the small varieties that were known. Strangely enough, the first chrysanthemum brought into Europe was not gold, but purple. It was a small flower about two inches across, shaped, like an aster. Somebody took it to Europe from China in 1790 — and, presto, the modern history of chrysanthemums was begun. — Argonaut.

Memorizing Poetry

1903

To economize time in memorizing a poem it should be read as a whole; that is, entirely through each time. Tests made in psychological laboratories show that to memorize one verse at a time takes one-fourth longer.


Down of a Thistle

In China the down of the thistle is gathered and mixed with raw silk so ingeniously that even experts are deceived when the fabric is woven. It is also used to stuff cushions as a substitute for eiderdown, and a very good substitute it makes.

Canton and Its Population

1878

A correspondent writes from Canton, China, as follows:

As we arrive in front of the city the famous boat population presents itself. The river is covered with boats of many sizes and shapes, and as we look at them we can readily believe what is told us, that 60,000 people live on these boats. The statement is literal, not figurative. They are born, they are reared, they live, they grow to old age, they die in these boats. So lived their ancestors, and so will live their descendants.

Here is a boat rowed by two women. A child sits in a little compartment provided for him, or creeps about the deck. A cord is around his waist and fastened to the boat or a billet of wood, and as he knows that he cannot receive any attention, he does not demand it. The hotel runners that board the steamer on our arrival are women, and they carry our baggage without the slightest intimation that we are wanting in deference to their sex. Of the small boats on the river, I think at least half are manned by women, (you see the joke?) and sometimes there are whole crews of them.

From the boat population of Canton come the men who serve as sailors in junks and other craft along the coast, and a large majority of the Chinese seamen on foreign ships are, doubtless, from the same source. It is said that these people are not allowed to live on shore either at Canton or elsewhere, but I cannot say if the statement be true or not. I have inquired of several persons who ought to know about it, but as no two tell the same story, the reader may believe whatever he likes.

The strange sights that greet one's eyes on shore are so numerous and varied that a mere list would be hopeless. The streets are so narrow that carriages are out of the question, and even the sedan chairs in which we ride find occasional difficulty in passing other chairs bound in the opposite direction. Burdens great and small are carried by coolies, and some of these burdens are novel indeed. A coolie carries his load, or rather his two loads, balanced on a bamboo pole across his shoulder, and sometimes a baby in one basket preserves the equilibrium of a quantity of vegetables in another. Here comes a man transporting a couple of live pigs, each in a case so very small that the animal cannot move, and possibly cannot, as he certainly does not, squeal.

Boxes and bags and baskets are thus borne along, and though the crowd is dense, nobody is run down; and though our chair-bearers walk at a good pace, they do not overturn a single pedestrian. The principal streets are little else than rows of shops, whose entire fronts are thrown open to speak a welcome to the possible visitor. The shops are gayer, brighter and cleaner than in any other part of China, and if we enter we are pretty certain to be received with the utmost politeness. Silk-weavers are busy at their looms, and ivory carvers at their benches; in fact, all the trades of Canton seemed to be maintained without mystery, and we may steal the art of any one of them, and carry it home with us, if so disposed.

Everybody appears happy and contented, with the exception of an occasional beggar, who is gotten up in a style of wretchedness regardless of expense. Canton is a veritable kaleidoscope of sights.

How "All Men Are Born Equal"

1905

The woman born beautiful doesn't bother to educate her intelligence, is spoiled by flattery, is unable to hold the men she attracts; the woman born homely is driven to develop her character and her mind, and so more than overcomes her handicap as against her pretty sister.

The man born clever loses because he wins too easily and has no incentive to that sustained effort which alone achieves success; the man born "slow" develops patience, assiduity, balance and, best of all, tenacity.

It comes near to being a universal rule that strong points and weak ones just about offset each other in any human being at the start, and that the development is a matter for the man himself to determine. And there is no fatal handicap except the disposition to regard one's handicap as fatal. — Saturday Evening Post.


Use Pipes of Pure Gold

There is an endless variety of substances of which pipes are made. In China the stems are of bamboo. In India leather stems are used, in Persia sweet jasmine, in Asia Minor cherry wood. In the Philippine Islands a richer material is available, for the natives hollow out sold nuggets which they find in the torrent beds, and use them as pipe bowls.

Puzzles in Chinese Names

1900

"When I went to school I was always at the head of the class in geography," said the Studious Citizen. "I could 'bound' anything and name the nearest route to almost any place. I've always kept up my interest in geography, but latterly the pursuit is almost too much for me. The world is growing, I suppose, and I'm getting old.

"The Spanish-American War put a heavy strain on me; had to learn a lot of new places, you know. Well, that soon ended. I was getting pretty well acquainted with the Philippines, when the South African War came along.

"I wouldn't like to say, on the spur of the moment, which are the harder to spell, pronounce and remember, Philippine names or South African names. But neither can compare with the Chinese names that we have to keep track of now."

The Studious Citizen spread out his reference books and invited the guest to look on. "Why, sir," he added, testily, "if you'll believe me, the geographers and statisticians don't know how to spell 'em themselves!

"Take the 'royal province' of China, the province that contains the capital city of Pekin. (Call it 'Peking,' if you want to; you'll find books to back you up.) The 'Statesman's Year-Book' names that province 'Chili' and `Chihli.' 'Rand & McNally's Atlas' calls it 'Chihli.' 'Cram's Atlas' adds some decorative frills and brings forth 'Pe-Chi-Li.' And 'Lippincott's Gazetteer' gives you three guesses, 'Pe-Chee-Lee,' 'Chee-Lee' and 'Chi-Li.'

"Suppose we look up that city from which the allies started for Pekin. 'Tient-sin' the 'Statesman's Year-Book' calls it on one page; on another page it prints the name as one word, without any hyphen. 'Cram' declares it is 'Tien-sin,' the 'Rand Atlas' prefers 'Tientsin,' and 'Lippincott' drops in an extra capital and gives us 'Tien-Tsin.'

"But the time the map-makers really get into the worst tangle is when they come to name the northern terminus of the Imperial Railway, a city at the head of the Gulf of Liao-Tung — or Leao Tong, or Liautung. The 'Year-Book' calls it 'ChenChou'; 'Cram' says 'Kinchow'; the 'Rand Atlas' pronounces for 'Kinchau,' and 'Lippincott's Gazetteer,' which is nothing if not generous, suggests 'Kin-Choo,' 'Kin-Tchoo' and 'Kin-Tchou.'

"'Who shall decide when doctors disagree?' Well, these are all authorities, and probably it would be as safe to follow one as another. But he will be a clever man who, when writing about Chinese matters, doesn't sometimes spell a name in two or three different ways. I shall have a great deal of sympathy for editors while this trouble lasts.

"I wonder they don't all print in their papers some such notice as that which was hung over the dance-hall piano in the Western mining-camp. You remember it? 'Please don't shoot at the piano-player,' it said. 'He is doing the best he can.'" — Youth's Companion.

How to Cook Rice

1905

Physicians and others who have eaten rice cooked by a Hindoo, a Chinaman or a southern darky must have remarked the difference between the results obtained by these artists and those of the benighted cooks of the north. We learn from an authoritative source that the secret lies in the following recipe:

The rice should be carefully washed and placed in a kettle of boiling water, which should be set on the back of the range over a low fire, where the rice should simmer slowly until done. Stirring is not only useless, but harmful. If there is any water left, it should be drained off carefully and the rice should then stand in a hot place for some time.

Nothing should be added during the cooking, no salt, sugar, milk or butter. If the cooking has been done properly, each grain of rice will stand out by itself, plump, dry and beautiful. Served very hot at the table the rice should then be reverently treated with cayenne pepper and butter, after which, will be revealed to the consumer one of the secrets of the success of the Japanese army. — New York Medical Journal.

Gossip About Women – "The New Woman"

Feb. 1896

Ella Wheeler Wilcox believes in reincarnation.

A training school for waitresses is a new Philadelphia institution.

Miss Helen Culver, of Chicago, has presented the University of Chicago with $1,000,000.

Mrs. Livermore has explained that when she called newspaper reporters a "pestiferous set" she spoke in a Pickwickian sense.

Victoria Morosini-Schilling, who started the fashion of eloping with coachmen, is now in St. Joseph's Convent, in Rutland, Vt.

Twenty-one sculptors competed for the statue of Sarah Siddons to be erected in London. The model chosen is by a Frenchman, Chevalier.

Mrs. Anna R. Aspinwall, a millionaire recluse of Pittsburg, Penn., has just died in Edinburgh. Her property is estimated at $4,000,000.

Annie Besant was a religious enthusiast in her early years and was inclined to become a nun, but compromised by marrying a clergyman.

Girls of sixteen are called "under buds" in fashionable designation, and have occasional social relaxations the way of a dance or a matinee theatre party.

E. W. Clark, of Nevada, Mo., tried to make Mrs. Caroline Stewart pay him $50,000 for declining to marry him, but the jury decided that he was undamaged.

The Society of the Daughters of the Holland Dames, Descendant of Ancient and Honorable Families of the State of New York, has been incorporated at Albany.

Two contemporary miniatures Joan of Arc, now in a private collection at Isenheim, in Alsace, are said be portraits of the Maid of Orleans, taken from life.

Miss Clara Barton is going to Armenia herself, to head the work of the Red Cross Society in relieving the distress of the Armenians. Five million dollars are asked for.

For several years a woman has driven the stage between Mancelona and Bellaire, Mich. She handles the reins as well as any man in that region, and has never been troubled with stage robbers.

It is reported that the Home Secretary of the British Government has consented to reopen the Maybrick case, and the friends of the unfortunate woman have high hopes of her at last gaining her liberty.

Mme. Dandet, wife of the French novelist, has a beautiful voice and thinks that this fact has caused the rumor that she was an actress before her marriage. She has never sung outside of her own salon.

The new woman is very much in evidence in Marcellus, Mich. The Town Council is composed of women, the local barber is a woman, the undertaker is a woman and many of the business houses are run by women.

Miss Melvina M. Bennett, a graduate of Boston University, has been appointed to the chair of Public Speaking and Vocal Interpretation in that institution. Miss Bennett is the first woman to gain a professorship in the university.

Girl ushers have just been appointed in the Arkansas City (Kan.) Opera House in place of men hitherto employed, There are six of them, and they are alleged to have been chosen from among "the handsomest young ladies in the city."

The Dowager Empress of China has been much affected by the Japanese war. She used to be a rather loud and violent person, who imagined that the whole world was created for her special benefit, but now she is quiet and humble and listens to advice from those who formerly dared not address her. She shows signs of aging rapidly.

Women in Hungary will henceforth be allowed to enter the Budapest University and become doctors and apothecaries, or study in the philosophical faculty. They must pass the same high school examinations as the men, however, and for that purpose the Government will provide them with opportunities to study Latin and Greek.

Chinese Fond of Swallow's Nests

1896

Crocodile Steaks and Rats

Of all strange foods that men have ever used, the one that seems most singular to us is the bird's nest used by the Chinese. The edible nests are those of the Nicobar swallows, found in the cluster of islands of that name in the Bay of Bengal. These nests form one of the principal exports of the islands. They are held in the highest estimation by the Chinese, as an article of food, says the Boston Traveller.

In Siam the flesh of crocodiles is sold regularly in the markets as human food. They are eaten by the natives of Africa also. Herodotus says they are eaten by the Egyptians near Elephantine, though worshiped and their lives sacredly preserved by the inhabitants of other parts of Egypt. The alligators of North and South America were eaten by the aborigines, as they are still in some parts of these countries.

The general rule is that beasts of prey are not good for food, but there are striking exceptions to the rule, and, among others, the tiger is sometimes eaten in India.

There seems to be no really good reason why rats should not be eaten, and in the country where they originally belonged, China, they are commonly used for that purpose; as, indeed, in Paris, during the siege, people were often glad to sit down to a feast of this kind.

The fox, though an object of sport, is seldom thought of in connection with the table, yet it is sometimes eaten by Indians.

A Remarkable Pilgrim — 103, Walks Long Way, Fails

1900

Aged Woman Determined to See Paris Exposition

An almost incredible story comes from France of the resolution and energy of an old Alsatian woman who was determined to see the exposition. She was found, exhausted by hunger and fatigue, on a road in the department of the Marne.

When her strength had been restored somewhat by medical treatment and food she told the following story: She was born in Alsace on January 2, 1797, and is therefore 103 years old. Seized with a burning desire to see the exposition, she had left Alsace two weeks before, intending to walk all the way to Paris, for she had a horror of railroads, and, besides was poor.

She had accomplished more than half the journey and had walked more than 150 miles. On her shoulders she carried her luggage, two bundles weighing fifty-nine livres (pounds). Her money, which she carried in a handkerchief, was a trifling burden, as it consisted of one 2-franc piece. In this financial condition it is needless to add that the courageous old woman had resolved at the outset not to enter an inn or restaurant during her journey. She subsisted entirely on bread and cheese, slept in barns when she could or in default of shelter passed the night under the trees by the wayside.

As soon as she had recovered her senses — for she was unconscious when found — she wished to resume her journey, and it was difficult to make her understand that Paris was yet a long way off. At last she understood and seemed resigned to her failure.


Origin of the Chinese Queue

The custom of Chinamen wearing pigtails is not ancient, considering the period that China has existed as a nation. It dates from 1627, when the Manchus, who then commenced the contest of the Celestial Empire, enforced this fashion of doing the hair as a sign of degradation. The average queue is three feet long, and, reasoning that the adult Chinamen number 200,000,000, we get a united pigtail measuring 113,636 miles long, sufficient to go four and a half times round the earth! — Golden Penny.