The Red Cloud chief., 1879-03-13
LITTLE CHINESE PAUPERs.


8DU he 0evsrDasos 20 CAssa Cares o.
the ChiiAree Of the Poor.
fFron the Sunday A~i,ernoon-l
In order 70 save these innocent vic.
Tins from the death to which the ex.
treme poverty Of their parents would a.
most inevitably bring them. the Chinese
Government has looked with favor upon
their being "expossd." and has made
this course - easy - possible, BY di.
vesting it Of every feature which might
make /, ignominious in the sight Of the
public; furnishing ~gra,uitously abun.
dant aid in such cases, and giving 1.-THE
protection Of the strictest surveillance,
under the guardian care Of the man.
darins.
At Pekin, every day Q. early dawn,
five wagons, each drawn by An OK, pass
Through the five sections into which the
city is divided (that is to say the North
ern, the Southern, the Eastern, the
Western, and the Central Sections; for
80 it is divided). Notice Of the time
when these wagons will pass is given by
certain signals, and all who have chill
dren, living or dead, to entrust to them,
give them oyer to be carried TO the Yu-
IN tang, that is, to that charitable insti-
tuition, in which are physicians, matrons
and nurses, which the sovereign MAIN
tains at the expense Of the State, where
there are, besides, mandarins to watch
over its decency and good order. and
where the whole management is SUBJ
mit,ed directly to the judges of the high
tribunals which We call in Chinese Ii
pou. which may be rendered BY ''the
tribunal having the oversight Of the
rites, morals and customs Of the peo-
ple." Children who are sick are placed
under the care of nurses; and the dead
are deposited in a species Of crypt,
where they are covered with quick-lime.
in order that the flesh may be speedily
consumed.
Once each year, in spring, commits
sioners appointed by the Li-pou, and
chosen from among the mandarins com.
posing this tribunal, repair with much
ceremony to the Yu-in-tang, and there
preside over the erection Of a funeral
pile on which the remains of these little
bodies are burned to ashes.
So long a. the funeral-pile is burning,
q company of 6onze, (priests) surrounds
it, repeating prayers. which they ad-
dress to the spirits Of the earth and TO
the genii presiding rel births, beseech-
ing them to show more favor to these
little e in that future time when they
shall reappear under a new form.
When the prayers are ended, and the
%funeral-pile entirely consumed leaving
only ashes, the mandarin commissioners
cause every one to withdraw and they
themselves retire, to return the following
day and preside over the ceremony Of
the removal of these ashes. This cere-
mony takes place with the same pomp
as that of the preceding day. They COL
lect the cold ashes carefully, place them
in a sack, and depart to scatter them on
the surface of a river, or a neighboring
stream. The priests again offer prayers,
in which they cntreat the spirits of the
waters, and those which preside over
generation, to cause that these ashes,
quickly dissolved, should exhale in va
por and not remain long without enter
ing again into the formation of some
other beings like those whose remains
they are, but so fortunate as to live long
er than they did.
The people are induced to believe that
the reason why these ashes are not burr
ed, instead of being strewn upon the
water, as is the custom, is because the
quickly dissolved than they would be in
the ground, are sooner in a condition to
be restored to their former state by
evaporating with the water; but the
true reason is that before the establish
ment of this ceremony the Government
had discovered that these ashes were put
to an improper use in magical perform
ances, or in chemical processes, in Or
der that the composition of certain SUBJ
stances might be thereby perfected. 1t
is especially claimed that these ashes,
mixed with the ingredients from which
porcelain is made. render it firmer,
more translucent and much more beau
tiful than it would be without them. II
this be the actual effect, which the pres
enc of the phosphate Of bone rem
ders quite probable, it would not be i'm
possible to obtain it from the bones of
young animals.
Once each month the same deputies
of the Lipoa make their regular visit of
inspection. They inform themselves as
to the number of children, and substi-
tute fresh nurses where needed, or in
place of those who have reached the
limit of their engagement, which lever
extends beyond three years. In short,
| they see for themselves whether every
thing is in order, and correct abuses, Il
any have crept in.
This institution is open at all times to
those who, having no children of their
own, wish to meet this want by adopt
ing from among the wards of this hos
pital a child whom no one can claim,
and whose age is such as to lead them
to hope tor as warm . love as they
would re eve from an own child. The
extreme desire Of the Chinese to leave
some one behind them who will mourn
for them at their death, and pay to their
memorial tablets al those honors which
flial piety in China lavishes upon the
| representation of their ancestors, Is the
reason why so very few are found .
part, at least, of whose happiness does
not consist in having male children.