The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1877-08-09

v
TIT 90 pSxt q NJ men is.e9 rpef u
not threw themselfes under II WheeIs. =
Cxjcago zfj1xns.
Fire Cnelss anA ysas.stcks.
5hsse ~ s1iciss - lSus ccnnso
tn IL he mind o. . GG6t6neio thae thsg
have among people In this country
Here, the ff1t Il 6ssociated chiefly viii
the noise and license Of Fourth Of July
Whn boys have the annual pfivilego 81
firing them of; and the second is knowr
for The convenience they afIord n lightin1
cigars. But among tho Chinese, fire
cf5ckera and m works Us usefl 81 vor
|shiping the gods, and to drive of evil AID
hungry spirits which may be pr0wlinf
about the house; while loss sticks an
lighted to invite genial influences from TIL
gods BY pleasing them with the smoke d
fragrnnt incena6, ~ 70,
The nanes.for fire- crackers, hsono mao
and Pd0 chssH, mean sonprous cracklinRs
and cracking bamboos; the latter term d
given from their !resaub1nnce in eixe Y
the little twigs Of that plant. There u !
rroverb among the people, Zone explo.
sion Of fireworks does away with the old
year, !" which is explained by the follow
ing legend: z i sssse 4
n Ia Nh lived in the hills, and the
house Of his nedghbor, old Chung. was
continually infested with elves. Man
sent him every morning and evening to a
hall to burn bamboo sticks, whose crack.
ling alarmed them 80 that they let him
sleep in quiet till morning. On this &c
count people have since used fire. works to
{fur{ IL knx-k L IA
ones may mar the harmony of the coming
New Year crackers are also let off when.
ever an enterprise, - ayoyage or jour
ney, is undeftaken-notE - much to get
good luck to ntegnd IS = q drive aEay ~
evil from hindering It.
Fire-crackers are made of coarse bam-
boo paper rolled around q little gun
powder and match of paper as fuse to
fire it. They are always covered with red
paper, because that is the color. of joy
among the Chinese, and are exploded on
every festive Or important occaSions The
bride steps into hsfs gay sedan, and gen
nut to enter her husbands house, amid
their cracking; and when they both first
bow before thesaucestFal tablet, it warns
malicious spirits TO retire far away. The
6ailor burns them - he weighs anchor,
md nvokes favorable winds. The an
nua2 Qlferings at the ancestral tomb are
presentei amid their cracking. and it5in-
netes left II repose for the coming gar
with thu anne salute The public e0afta
Sre closed and The olIlcisl seal put away
during the new year holiday under the
sAme anspices; while In e6eh household
tho G1Eof the kitchen u tiismisasd
o6 1ig journey to report On tho eouducl
OF 7fS members to ShanRlf, the Supreme
Ruler. But the demand for: this minia-
tura artilleryis greatest ON New Years
Eve, when the whole empire resounds
with tts deafening noise agai6 the lanes
and streets of the citiess Id Canton City,
their consumption is 50 great that the
streets are red with the fragments which
the farmers sweep up to use as manure.
The consumption of fire crackers among
the Chinese as may readily be inferred, is
enormous, for they enter into all their re-
ligious acts, and many Of the customs of
daily life. The export is more than 1000
tons annually, of which perhaps 800
tons come to this country. How could
American boys get through Fourth Of
July without them?
joss sticks derive their name from the
effort of the Canton shOpkeeper to de-
scribe to his foreign customer the incense
sticks often seen burning on. the counter.
He knew that idols of every kind were
called joss by the Portuguese at Macao,
derived from their word dos or God and
corrupted in his mouth to j0ss) and so he
summarily called incense sticks, Gods
sticks. as the phrase most likely to be un-
derstood. On the same principle, he calls
tor In fI1raS q snpe
day; foreign or native priests, joss man,
and worship of any kind, joss pidsin. All
these words he supposed to be good En-
glish, and therefore they will be clearly
understood by the foreigner Incense
sticks are usually made of needle like
slips of bamboo which are covered with a
composition of sawdust and clay in fine
powder The best kind are made
of sandal, CARGO, or other fragrant
woods reduced to powder; the. cheaper
and common sorts are of fir, cedar, juni
per, etc. On the altar before every idol
an open jar or vase: of bronze, crockery or
iron, contains incense sticks in one form
or other constantly burning. Another
way Of making them is to mix the dust
with giutinous water and clay, and roll
the dom position into q quill-shaped strip,
uniform in size throughout, II is some
times len OF twelve feet long, snd is then
cesled Into i s0rf of conicaIroll supported
BY wire; it burns 50 regularly that it is
marked of into certain distances to indi-
cate the hour OF day; and:sins act one
name loethis kind means e time incense, !"
from its double use as atime-kecper and
aneffefi6f 70 the gods. It is only this
kind which is exported for the convent
ence Of segar smokers. but the native
manufacturer probably supposes that his
foreign customers burns them for the
same purpose that he does. Incense sticks
are also made of powdered artemisia
mixed with clay, and burned to drive
away mosquitoes, which the smoke does
effectually rs. Wells WilliGns, in N. T.
Dtseruer.
Law-and-Order Bump OF q Baggage
Man.
The Erie Railroad has one baggage man
who is.a stick lawand rder. IheFs
is atute forbidding the ries to carry
,orpses without a Coronersi f,ermit under