The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1870-06-17
THE CHINESE.

1t is difficult for US to conceive that
mankind, like the various inferior or
ders of creation, is constructed on the
principle of infinite diversity, natures
constant effort being to avoid repeating
herself, whether in races or individuals.
a letter from the Rev. DIR. Prime to the
New York Observer recalls some re-
markable contrasts between Chinese
civilization and ours. The mariners
compass is made to point South, instead
of North, by putting the index on the
opposite end of the needle; a rider
mounts horse from the off side; in
stead of backing shoes, they whiten
them with chalk; the old men fly the
kites, while the boys look on. An
American, as an act of hospitality,
treats you to a glass of wine. A China
man introduces you to his dead grand
mother, in her coffin. He shows you
his own coffin with as bland politeness
as Frenchman would show you his
pictures or an Englishman his dogs.
To express his pleasure at meeting you
he does not shake your hand, but his
own, moving them up and down as if
he were pumping out his feelings, and
the gush was slow. In cases of small
poX and the itch this mode of salutation
has the highest hygienic qualities. In
stead of taking off his hat, on coming
into your presence, he takes off his
shoes. AS a mark of special honor at
feast he seats you at his left hand, not
at his right, and sends your ladies into
an inferior room, to eat by themselves,
so that you can get as drunk as you
please without gratifying their curiosi-
ty. Unmarried women are regarded as
of very little account; but mothers al
ways rule their children and grand
children, to whatever age they may at
tain. Here, on the contrary, pretty
young girls command all who approach
them, and the rule of children over their
parents is only less perfect than their
sway over the grandparents. Here you
ask father how many children he has,
and he answers, perhaps, three. In
China he would answer lone child and
| two girls" The Chinese men wear
| frocks and carry fans, and the women
wear the pant6loons and smoke. In
these respects, however, the two coun-
| tries are not very unlike. When man
marries, his mother acquires the right
| to t'boss" his wife as well as himself,
which is very consoling to all parties.
The mother-in-law is consoled by hay-
| ing one more to boss over. The hus-
band is consoled by the feeling that his
labor is divided. The daughter-in-law
| is consoled by knowing that she'll do
| the same when she becomes a mother
in-law. In China your dressmaker IS
man, if you are a woman, but the per-
son who constructs your hair for you
| is woman. The men wear their hair
braided, and never cut it, estecming il,
as st. Paul says, "an ornament" The
| women do theirs up very close, or
shingle it short, feeling, as the Apostle
remarks, that it is a shame to them to
| wear long hair. 4 book is read from
| the left of the page to the right, from
| the top to the bottom, and beginning with
the last page and ending with the first.
The written language is not spoken,
| and the spoken language is not written,
so that two persons may be able to I'M
derstand each other perfectly by writ
ing when neither can comprehend q
word the other may say. The detect
ives sound a tom tom as they go through
the streets, to warn rogues and thieves
that they are coming. The tax collect
ors are regarded, not as officers OF the
| government, but as licensed thieves,
authorized to take all they can get with
out exciting any Instruction which
| they cannot themselves suppress. But
one of their wisest customs, worthy of
| all limitations by Christians, is, when
they get very angry with their friends,
and nothing but vengeance can slake
their fury, they kill themselves, in the
confident belief that the enduring re-
morse of their friends, at having been
the cause of their death, will far exceed
their own temporary and trif1ing incon-
venience in dying. The more serious
ly we reflect upon the profound deduc-
ton of the Chinese philosophy, the
more we are impressed with admiration
and surprise that it never struck Christ
ians i'll exactly the same light. This
brings the sweets of revenge within the
reach of every deserving young man or
woman. 1t enables every afflicted per-
son who can afford to invest five cents
in ratsbane, or half that sum in rope,
to punish Shis enemies to his hearts con-
tent without ever being subjected to
trial, except by coroner's jury, who
would generally find verdict of COM
plete Justification Had Daniel McFar.
land, for instance, been brought up I'M
der the teachings of Boodh and Kong
fut-se, instead of Theodore Parker, he
would have shot himself, instead OF
Richardson, and would have left very
happy couple in existence to lament his
fault and plant flowers over his grave.
Chicago Tribune.