The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1875-02-05
The Doctrines OF COnfuciuS.
LECTURE BY A "uE4rHEN cHINEB."

Chinese scholar, named Wong Chin Foo
His subject was the Doctrines of Confucius
the father of Chinese morality. The follow
ing are extracts from his lecture, made by
one of the photographic staff of the Publ,
Ledger.
Before presenting to you the wonderful
sentiments which Confucius gave us, some
centuries ago, will try to explain to you
who this Confucius was. Coniucius is be.
lieved by many, especially among the COM
mon people, to be a supreme being, but by
the learned classes he is believed to be no
more than good and very learned man.
He has a very peculiar history concerning
his birth. In former years it was the custom
for our females to go into the fields where
the mulberry trees grew, and collect mulber-
ry leaves to feed the silk worms with. In
China great care is taken of these silk worms
by the females of the country. All the
| women in those days went out to collect these
leaves and the mother of Confucius also had
to do this kind of work, inasmuch as she was
forced to go by the law of China. Even the
| sllpltSS ndu w SO OuJ III liG llClNo dlN Npl-
lcct mulberry leaves to show good exam
| pie to the females of the empire. The moth
er of Conlucius went out one day, and the
weather was very wet. She did not like to
walk il the water and finding by accident,
some footprints of a being which are sup
posed to have been those of an unknown del
| ty, she followed them.
| Then followed narrative of the birth,
childhood and early history of Conlucius,
which allowing for Oriental differences of
description, is. quite similar to the same
events in the life of Christ and of his virgin
mother.
When Conf ,us was little boy, not quite
five years old, he was wonderfully distin-
guished for his intellect, for his great rever-
ence to the aged and for his great proprety.
No matter what place he went to, or no mat
ter in what position he was placed, he be-
| haved like Il grown person rather than like a
child. And he was so early distinguished
for his intellectual powers that he was ap-
pointed by the Emperor at the age of four
teen to be very important officer in high
position. He, however, did not like that
position and gave it up. When he became
a man he saw the corrupt condition of his
countrymen, and also the degraded rulers of
that nation robbing and cheating the pco-
| pie, no matter where they were placed, and
| he saw the corrupt state of the laws also, so
he at once gave up his public life, denying
| himself all the money, all the pleasures, all
the honors of this world when he began to
tematic plan of reform, but did not teach it
among every class Of people. lie did not
carry out his religion as the teachers now do
/ by mingling among all classes. He believed
this religion could be better carried on in
future generations by impressng it upon the
minds Of intellectual people, upon scholars,
| upon high personages, and not upon low
coolies and common people who cannot un-
derstand argument. So Confucius did not
choose to waste his time upon them. He
believed that, by placing upon those strong
minds thi5religiOn it could be carried out and
daily become more substantial. TO effect
this purpose he had about him some five or
six hundred mandarins-these people of
position and honor, and those he taught and
instructed. lie died when 20 years old
1t will take some time to explain to you
all his wonderful doctrines. lie considered
jire qualities necessary to the perfect man.
The first Of these is propriety, the second
gravity, the third sincerity, the fourth vir
tue, the fifth iilial piety. OF the five things
will only be able to give you partial idea
do not come here to introduce this religion
among you, come here simply to uphold
the great man Confucius, show you what he
have, what kind Of government, what belief
We believe We have just as good a religion
as anybody else.
The first of these principles of Coniucius
is propriety, which is also the most impor-
tant Of all the principles laid down by him.
Every one in China acts according to the
laws of proprety. The small child has to
learn how to behave himself in the streets
and in the houses and in the rubic. You
will never see in Chinese streets those little
boys and girls addressing people they do not
know, or sitting in any posture they please.
There is only one way Of sitting in China,
which does not appear to be the case in your
country. In Il hotel in one of your cities l
was in, there were six gentlemen, all OF
whom had different ways of sitting down
One had his head against his hand for
fear his head might fall down on the ground
Another bad his knees one on top of the
other. The last had his feet four or five
times higher than his head. In China we
look down to see our feet, but in this Coun-
try you look up. The first thing we teach
our children is how to live, how to com
mcnco conversation, how to behave, no
learn how to die, as | understand you teacl
, them in this country. We teach them frs
, how to live; you show them how to die be
: fore they learn to live, Now these littl,
! children are taught these things in China
The first of these is that the boys and girl
! must not see each other until they are owe
:, fifteen years of age. fla young lady i
! | found in the society of young man belor
: th 1t age, she is severely censured by he
mother. We let our mothers bring up GU
daughters to be good daughters, good wives
and good mothers, and our fathers hay
. nothing to do with them. Let cur father
d bring up our sons to be good sons, good hus
2, bands and fathers. This is according to tn
- laws OF propriety We must not, if we ar
If in high situation, look down upon thos
y below IL, nor must we when we are in a lo'
II position court the favor of our superior
c We are taught to conduct ourselves proT
d erly in the position we are put in. The ST
IS perior man behaves himself properly every
K where, When our elders come towards I
d we do not face right to them, we step rgl
1t aside and let them pass by, No young ma
N in our empire dares let an aged person oye
- sixty years old wait upon him. No matte