Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-04-14
CHILDHOOD OF THE CHINESE.

CHILDHOOD OF THE CHINESE.
4 Chinese Leet1rsr's DRY way q Saying
Se0s Very Funny Things.
The first thing which strikes even thu
casual observer in China il what TO for.
eigner seems to be oddity in the people
and their customs. The contrast be
tween these and those prevailing in the
western hemisphere has afforded an end.
less topic for newspaper wit and satire.
This would not Be the case if the origin
and meaning Of Chinese customs were
understood by the gentlemen who make
merry over them, for their laughter
arises from wonder, and wonder, as q
great writer says, is the result Of ignor-
ance. will attempt tonight not SO
much to trace those customs to theiz
sources as to show their right to exist
to show that their charter Of liberty is
still valid. Let Us first consider the Gus
toms which surround the advent Of those
little angels which we call babies. Un-
der every bed in China there is a little
idol and censor, dedicated to Poo Paw,
Or auntie. This takes the place of the
maiden aunt in China, for we have no
maiden aunts there. Laughter. She
Is supposed to protect every baby. This.
Of course, is part Of our superstition.
A few days after the birth christen-
ing ceremony takes place and name is
chosen for the child. Names in China
are not conventional They are taken
from the dictionary because of their
happy meaning. For instance, take my
name, it means wealth through imperial
favor. My grandfather had expectations
of my becoming great mandarin through
the bounty of the emperor. OF course
you see that his expectations were not
realized. Laughter. Those names
which you see on the fronts Of Chinese
shops are not the names Of people. They
are business titles or notices, some
thing like your Reliable insurance
company Hop Sing" means fit to
prosper" A drug store bearing the
sign Chung Sing Yong means Long
life to ALL" Lung Fat" does not mean
that the owner Of the sign has fat lungs;
it signifies prosper and get rich" We
have custom of giving pigs feet and
ginger to a mother after the birth Of a
child. The pigs feet are boiled in ginger
and are supposed to be very nourishing.
About a month after the birth of the
child we have a ceremony which we call
the afull moon.- 1t is the custom then
for friends and relatives to make pres
ents Of cloth and cakes and jewelry.
Sometimes the parents thereupon give a
feast and send back to the givers of pres
ents slices of roast pig, for roast pig is
esteemed great dainty in China.
The next event in the child's life Is the
ceremony Of shaving when the embryo
cue is formed. Americans have wrong
notion concerning the cue. II is merely
worn in China because it is fashion, not
because it has any religious significance.
l am frequently asked whether, if went
back to China, would wear my cue:
Yes, I would, but not growing upon my
head. What is to prevent my wearing
it like this taking off his skull cap with
the cue attachedJ? would wear my cue
in China because it would be very I'M
comfortable for me to walk through the
streets there without it. l would DO
pelted with sticks and stones, and other
substances, for the people would say:
THAT man is Christian, because he has
given up Chinese fashions" Cinnamon
got their cues in the first place from the
Manchu Tartars. A civil war was reign
ing in China at the time, 1870, and the
emperor of the Manchus was invited to
ally himself with one of the chiefs. He
did; and after he conquered the common
enemy he conquered his ally also, and
became the ruler of China. He intro
duced the cue by force through an edict
by which he sentenced to decapitation all
who would not wear cues. So we got
the cue by force at first. Since then it
has become popular and is now the thing
to wear in China. Our costume also I'M
derwent very considerable notifications
at the hands of the Tartars. Previous 10
their coming the dress of the Chinese
was much n ore pretty than it is now.
1t is very hard for children to learn
the Chinese language because it consists
of words of one syllable only. As there
are 10000 words in use and as the organs
of speech are limited as to the variety Of
sounds they can make we have many
words with dozen different meanings
each and some with even more. IL is
hard also to learn our written language,
because there are as many characters as
there are words. These characters were
pictures of the objects meant by the
words in the first place, but they have
been greatly modified, and could not be
recognized as the pictures of anything
now. You hear it said that children turn
their backs on the teacher when they re-
cite. They do; there is no catechising
Of the children in the Chinese schools;
they simply learn a thing by heart and
go up and repeat it. They turn their
backs so that they may not be able to
see the lesson. The ferrule is frequently
used in Chinese schools, though it has
long been banished from those of Amer
lea. The teacher viii prompt once or
twice, but the third time his ferrule
comes down. So that the education of
boys and girls in China proceeds under
considerable difficulty. Girls 60 to school
till>they are II or IL years of age 1t is
not deemed necessary for them TO know
as much as the boys.-Brooklyn Eagle.
The Pig in Cape Breton Households.
The pig is sometimes member Of the
Cape Breton household in regard to bed
and board.
A minister at wedding remained all
night and was given low cot-bed in the
living room. In the night he was
startled at finding some one getting into
his bed. and soon felt it TO be the pig
nesting down against his back. He
tried to drive it out, but the outraged
animal would not go.
The noise of the fight brought the
householder. and he explained that it
was the habit Of the pig to come into bed
with them on cold nights, and assured
the reverned gentleman that it would do
no harm.-Harper's Magazine.
Monkey Susceptibility to Conhumpsion.
Monkeys. like men, have a great en-
envy in consumption and as they arr
much more susceptible to the disease IL
sooner uroves fatal with them
The Creole Lsdies Of New Orleans
The creoles give 70 New Orleans much
of its most charming and polished So
ciety. itS fetes. carniyals. and far-famed