The Globe-republican., 1891-02-04
ROMANCE OF AN ALPHABET.

ROMANCE OF AN ALPHABET.
The Dev.1opnent Of the Ideosr.ns Of tn
Chinese.
Naturally the objects Of nature frs'
exercised the ingenuity of the Chines<
depictors of ideas. The heavenly bodies
were always before them, and the hier
oglyphics representing them were
among their first efforts. But time
came when they were called upon 70
express on paper, by means of com.
pound characters, the various phases OF
the sun and moon for example. The
drawing of ''the sun above a straight
line" was sufficient to indicate the early
dawn, and as it rose higher above the
horizon and shone through the trees,
it suggested an ideogram repro.
ducing the scene 1.-THE sun shining
through tree) to represent the East.
The ''sun'' and ''to reign" compounded
together was considered sufficiently de-
scriptive of ''the sun Frightening into
full day." The darkness before dawn
was ''the sun l. not yet" As it sank
toward the West it was a shielded
sum-" and evening was an escaped
sum-" For description of brightness
in the abstract the services of the moon
were called into play, and the two lu-
minaries placed side by side, represented
very Ell ctively the idea.
But what about the stars? Their rela-
tive size supported the notion of their
being the offspring Of the sun, and so
they were named Born of the Sun"
Descending to earth, we find that man
and his concerns largely exercised the
inventive powers of the elaborators of
kilograms. "A man" and two" stood
for humanity and regard for one another.
"a mans words" were truthful, sincere,
and .'halt man" was a companion, an
idea of fellowship which seems to ira;.
cate that, according to Chinese ideas,
perfect man, like happiness. was born a
twin. Etiquette or decorum was ''the
righteousness of man. A white man"
was a nobleman or chief, probably re-
5efring to time when the Chinese
were brought into contact with the
darker-skinned aboriginal tribes at
China, and valley man" was one of
the common herd.
ga mans fault was dissipation. as it
often is here as we'll as in China, and a
while extravaganza was represented by
a ymbol signifying "a mans excess"
and wantonness ''woman's." 1t has to
be admitted that the characters drawn
of women in the kilograms are by no
means always complimentary, which. of
course must be attributed to a complete
ignorance Of the sex on the part of inven
tors of writing. How else can we explain
the facts that a compound of 1.-TWO wo-
men" represents strife, and of three"
intrigues? Or. again, that to suspect,
to dislike, should find expression in a
character composed of "a woman plus
together WITH or that saucy, pert.
should be represented by a moreover
woman It is curious to note that an
ideogram formed of "a wave" and "a
woman" stands for virago, just as a
wave-man, Ronin, in Japanese means a
lawless adventurer.
The ideal of beauty among the Chi
nese differs as widely from ours as
do their written characters from our A
b C. Not long since member of the
Chinese Legation was looking at pho
tographic group of decidedly pretty
yonng English ladies. and being asked
whether he admired them, replied:
mo, they are difficult to look at. diff
cult to look at" AS to figure, willow
like waist, and bending, yielding form
are the objects of highest admiration in
China, and so character formed of
parts signifying "a woman and
curved" is used to denote beautiful,
lovely. comely. Many meanings con-
nected with women are associated with
characters which prima facie bear no
relation te them whatever.-London
Saturday Review.