Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1888-09-15

My dear boys and girls, let me tell
you about letter written to you by a
China boy who lives in the house
where | do. | teach him to read. He
is now reading words of three letters.
He is smart China boy, and has a
Chinese education. He sends you his
New Years card 1t would make q
nice wall ornament. At my request
he writes you short letter, so you can
see how the Cinnamon write. He is
not Christian. His name is Loo
Sing Wah. He was married at IS.
He is now %. His name before he
was married was Loo All Chung.
When Cinnamon get married they
change their names as we'll as the
women. When you read his letter,
you begin at the top of the right-hand
corner and read down; then begin at
the top of the next, and so on. The
two marks in the first column read "a
letter" The second line reads: "All
little white American school-boys and
white American school girls, you will
get this letter" The third line: 81
hope when you stay in that country
you go to school; be not lazy" The
fourth line: Il hope you are well and
are good to father and mother" The
fifth line: "Your teacher tells mesto
write you Chinese letter for you to
look at" The sixth line: BE good
like Chinese Jesus" and the seventh
line: Learn about Chinese Jesus and
you will be good" The last line reads !;
Loo All Chung"
We call Loo All Chung Jim, so You
see he has plenty of names. Jim says
the poor boys in China cannot go to
school because they have to pay. He
went to school seven years. He got up
early, about six o'clock, and went to
school. At nine he went home to
breakfast and returned, and at six went
to dinner If boy did not study, his
teacher hit him on the head with big
stick. Chinese girls never go to school,
stay in the house and sew and make
nice clothes. They all marry when
they are 16 or II years old.
A China boy never sees the girl he is
to marry until the day on which he is
to be married. A Chinaman never
claims his wife's relations, but claims
his own. SO jim calls his fathers
brother his uncle, but says his mothers
brother is no relation of his. He says
that when China boy who is mar
ried dies, the family cry for three
days; if he dies before he is mar
ried, the family cry for two days. If a
girl dies. the family cry one day, and
if baby dies, they only cry little
while. After body has been buried
three years, they take it out of the
ground and take the bones and put
them in a dish and bury them again.
The better care n man takes of his
fathers and grandfather's bones the
better luck the man and his children
are supposed to have.
One thing that seems virtuous in the
Cinnamon is the great respect they
have for their father and mother. That
makes me think of what Jim said, that
when Chinaman married he brought
his wife home to live with his father
and mother. When three or four BOYS
get married it makes a pretty crowded
house, but that is the way they all do
so Jim sends his money to his father
and his father gives some to Jim's wife,
if she asks him for some. When Jim's
sisters get married they go away to
their husbands fathers house.
Jim's pen is straight stick that is
sharpened at one end. He holds it
straight up and down to write. He has
a little tin dish, into which he puts a
little water and then rubs around in il
a stick of ink that looks just like the
stick of stove polish your mother has.
When he has made it black enough he
rolls the sharp end of the stick in
it and is then all ready to write, and
you would be astonished to see how fast
he writes.
There is a Chinese Sunday school
here. The China boys, about thirty of
them, recite verses from the Bible, sing
gospel songs and repeat the Lords
prayer; and last Sunday China boy
played the piano while the others sang.
Jim's letter, consisting of seventy
nine words, required over 900 strokes
of the sharp stick, and covers o CORE,