The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-01-16
CHINESE AT SCHOOL.
Work OF the Missions on tho Pa-i
clio Coast.
-Jnhn's Instinct for Material Gain Ronicrs
Him I'M Apt Scholar. But lilo Is
Dsplorsbly Deficient In Eca-
eoning Power.

$500 eonlng EcNer.
Tho Chinese whom VIC SEQ in this
country as immigrants nre, almost to a
anan, from the province of Canton, and
che Cantonese are at once the most en-
tcrprisins. the bravest and the
toughest" subjects of tho Emperor
From their ranks are drawn the
cleverest merchants in all parts of
'China. the most daring navigat-
prs, the finest soldiers and the
most efficient police. They push out
into other countries, says writer
in Kate Fields Washington, when they
cRn no longer endure the ovcrpopula-
tion, poverty and squalor ut home. Pos
Bibly one In twenty can read and write
In n very limited way. The rest have
neither the time nor the opportunity to
learn.
There nrc no public schools in China,
and life there is SO wholly struggle
for the barest needs of existence that
the means would be lacking to attend
them If there were. Where family of
from four to six persons jointly earn
md ore expected to house, clothc and
Feed themselves on four dollars
month; where the common peoples
food consists Of poor rice at u cent and
n half pound, now and then IL veg
.etable which they are able to raise
themselves, and perhaps once week Il
little fish; where they must work in
freezing weather out OF doors clad in
cotton garments; from such a region
my escape is welcome, any refuge is
Heaven US compared with it. The Can
'toncse knows nothing as danger. priva-
lion or hardship after what he has left
behind him at home. Fighting comes rs
natural TO him as freezing or starving.
It is only one of the incidents, nfter all,
of an existence whose highest aim was
4he procuring of means to sustain it
self md whose boundaries were drawn
by the hand of an memorable fate.
What have said hero will account
for the slow progress which seems to be
aznadc by the various charitable agencies
established by the white people for tho
benefit of the Chinese. -Four religious
societies, for instance, have opened mis-
zion schools for them in the city Of
Portland These institutions are all
doing earnest work, but only one has Sc
cured the services Of an American in
structor who can talk to his pupils in
the Chinese language; the rest have
white persons at their head with Chi
fnese interpreters, preachers and teach
ere. The exception is the Presbyterian
school, presided over by Rev. William S.
Holt, who lived ten years in China and
became an expert in speaking and writ
ling the language Of the country, and
'morc especially tho dialect of the Can
teouese. His work may be taken, If To-
cal opinion Is to be trusted, as about
1.-THE best gauge of the success of such
iefforts- During the four years he has
been here he has had some two hundred
.tpupils. OF these only about dozen
have shown desire to carry their edu-
.cation any distance past the rudimenta-
;ry stage This is. not because the rest
are lazy OF stupid, for they nre tho very
reverse. The pupils nre mostly house
hold servants and clerks in stores. They
make no matter Of coming to school in
sthe evening after hard days work and
spending two or three hours at their
Books, and the Chinaman has yet to be
found who can not learn his English al
lphabet in one day and be ready the next
40 read words OF Il single syllable.
The whole trouble is that they are apa-
.thctic about every thing beyond what
they see is going to bring them in some
Immediate profit, or make their worls-a-
day lives trifle easier. They can find
a wider market for their labor and com
imand better wages If they can speak,
read and write English. therefore they
fFeek such knowledge. The idea Of
learning for lcarning's own sake, Of
getting an education for the fund of in
ternal resources and refined enjo ymcnt
1T will bring with it. is furthcst from
their minds. For centuries their an
ccstors have had no higher ambition
;1hnn the satisfaction Of the bodily wants
nf the day and the provision Of hole to
crawl into ut night. What can be cx-
Pected Of the effect of such sordid influ-
.ences upon the thought and character
Df the present generation?
Impelled by the instinct of material
gain, the Chinaman seeks the school
and begins his studies. His progress is
Phcnomenally rapid up to the point
syhere mere meInorizinS ceases and the
exercise OF the reasoning faculty be-
glne- Hero he makes his first stumbles.
Not that he does not get along, for his
shrewdncss at dcvising cxpadicnts Is
narvclous- lie will s,lrmount difficult
eies in his own fashion most cleverly IL
ahey lie directly in the path he has fixed
his resolve to travel. In by far the
largest number OF cases, where they lie
outside OF that straight line. he has no
desire 10 carry his research further.
Pacific Island CunnIbais.