Morning journal and courier., 1890-04-22
THE CHOPSTICKS.
Customs That Prevail in China and
 Japan.

Customs That Prevail in China and Japan.
 [From Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore in St. Nicholasl "They cut their food with their daggers, and they eat with pitchfo1k ksi" cried the hor- ri6ed Japanese who first saw Europeans eat- ing in such barbsrie and revoltiDg manner
 with the knife and fork.
 Light-fngered, delft, and initiative as the
 Japanese and Chinese are, 1t takes them as
 long to learn the proper and graceful use of
 the knife and fork as it requires for us to master the evolutions and etiquette of the chopsticks.
 It is pretty sight, at the beginning of Japanese or Chinese feast, to seethe host help his guest to sweets, as then is displayed the best and most graceful play of the chopsticks. One can take 8 lesson, as the master of the feast daintily lifts cakes or confections and places them on the plate or paper before each l guest. The Chinese chopsticks are longer than the Japanese, often metal-tipped aud decorated, and arc used again and again. Mandarins carry their own silver tipped ivory chopsticks to feast, wipe them clean, and carry them home again when it is over. In the common restaurants in Chinese cities the the chopsticks constitute a lottery for the patrons. All the sticks are kept together in deep round box. are entitled to an extra dish or portion without charge. In the old city of Tien Tsin, particularly, one is half
 
 rattling of the boxes of chopsticks and the
 shrill voices of the proprietors screechfng the merits of their establishment at the top of their lungs.
 In Japan, where exquisite neatness and daintiness mark every part of household liv- ing, the same chopsticks are used only once. At feast, or at an ordinary tea house, 8 long paper envelope laid beside one's bowl contains pair of 12-inch sticks no thicker than load pencils, whittled from clean white pine. To show that they have never been used the two sticks are whittled in one peace and split apartsonly half their length.
 How We Have Improved on the An cients.
 Frances Power Cobb in the April Forum.1 Let us sum up the conclusions of this pa
 per. 1. The desire of food has passed the
 stage of gluttony and become in Europe and al luxury. 3. Sexual love has undergone @ glorifying transformation from a universal brute instinct to Every commonly an exalting ideal passion. 3. Indolence has given way to almost feverish activity. 4. Hatred has diminished in frequency and intensity, and revenge has become obsolete. Anger is per. haps more often self-controlled. 5. Sympa- thy with suffering has vastly increased and largely displaced heteropsthy and aversion. 6. Wholesome indignation has waned disas- trously, and remorse has disappeared. 7. Avarice has almost died out, and given place to inquisitiveness and covetousness, often
 united with prodigality, and giving rise to gigantic extension of the vice of gambling. g. The desire of fame has dsgenerated into
 the love of notoriety. 5. The love of natural l beauty, especially of the wider sort, has been l born, and has become a large factor in mod | ern enjoyment. 10. Humor is more com | mon, more refined and more prized. II. l Men and women have become almost mo-
 madic in their habits, so perpetual are their 1 removals and journeys. 12 The minds of | men have become infinitely more subtle, l their emotions more varied, more complex, dangers of duplicity are incurred, and at the | same time the capacity for high emotional
 and intellectual pleasures is enlarged.