Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-10-25
WAYS THAT ARE QUEER.

tho bOO100 Oh the O0o0s
The Pekin Gazette recently contained
an imperial rescript severely censurs
ing number of officials concerned in
the execution Of criminal who was
sentenced to death by strangulation.
but who. ''by a stupid piece Of reck-
lessness and objectionable bungling."
was decapitated instead. Comment.
Ing on this incident, the North China
Herald says that the Emperor only re-
Elected Chinese sentiment in attaching
great Importance to the difference be-
tween the two, decapitation being re-
garded as a much more dishonorable
death than strangulation. The Chin
csc feel the utmost repugnance to any
mutilatiOn Of the body, not on account
of the pain or the fear of death. but
because of the sentiment that it is q
mans duty to keep intact, as far as he
can, the body which his parents have
bequeathed to him. 1t forms part of
that system of filial piety which is the
orthodox religion of China. and has
had its share in producing the Chinese
dislike of wars and revolutions.
Patiently and uncomplainingly as most
Chinese will 60 through surgical
operation. it is well known that they
strongly object to amputation, and it
is often difficult to induce them to sub
NIT to it. They invariably ask for the
severed limb, which they either keep
in box, to be buried with the original
owner on his death, or they eat 1t.
This latter method has the counter
ance of antiquity; what is severed from
the body by accident or necessity is
returned to it. A work which has
been called the Chinese prose "Iliad"
records of certain hero that
when drawing out q stray ar
row which entered the eye in
battle the eye came with the weapon.
whereupon he swallowed the former
with great sang froid. Some common
tators ON the work say that as q tenn
porary expedient this was quite allow
able. and even commendable, but that
the regular course would to wrap up
the eye and keep it until death.
Teeth are treated in much the same
way. Milk teeth are regarded as q
mere makeshift of nature, and there
fore not possessed of the dignity Of
adult teeth. The latter are carefully
kept when they come out. or they are
ground to powder and swallowed in
water. for they are part of the par
ents' bequest. Another phase Of this
subject is the practice, 50 frequently
commended by the Emperor, of max
ing broth for sick parent out Of flesh
cut from the body of the child. The
efficacy of the practice Is that It re-
stores to the parent a portion Of his
own essence. Viceroys are constantly
begging for special rewards to be be-
slowed ON children who have mutilat-
ed themselves for this purpose. Tho
mother of late Governor of Yunnan,
who was then eighty-seven years old,
was commended not long since in
these terms: ''She obtained q reputa.
ton for the filial piety she displayed
towards her husbands parents. mutt
lating herself to mix her flesh with his
medicine when her father-in-law was
ILL.," A few years ago the Viceroy Of
Szeehuen reported q case in which q
dutiful son, who was too poor to sat-
isfy sudden craving on the part Of
his sick mother for meat, cut q piece
Of flesh OF his arm and made soup for
her. He felt, the report says, no pain
from the mutilation and the wound
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