Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-02-13

ment in the spiritual worlds In other
words, the awful thought came to him that
his mothers ghostly part would oppose
him in his literary efforts, and also do its
best to make him completely miserable in
all the concerns of his life
And this evil, he moaned, sis to come
upon one who never failed to kow tow
night aud morning at your venerable feet.
= any motherP'
In the fervor of hi; grief the poor fellow
actually forgot himself so far as to weep,
with his head bent on his wife's shoulder,
she tenderly stroking his brow the while
and whispering words of comfort about the
forthcoming examination
You will become a high and mighty off
cial," she said. Il wish to prophecy it,"
Hearing this Seng braced himself, and
with the light of heroic endeavor in his
eyes-poor eyes, weakened by his incessant
studies-he clasped his wife to his breast
and began an eloquent grafton, in which
much was said about the priceless value of
unwearying application and the virtues
the virtues that arise in the heart after
twenty years of literary exercises
Il will forget the past will be younp
forever. until / succeed, and when these
sad hours are gone We shall look back upon
them as salutary aids to that eternal CON
tentment which shall abide with us as the
result of competencer'
Thus, urged by necessity and his own
fading ambitions, Sang threw himself into
the strife of the examinations with a con-
Stunning heartiness. He was never without
slips in his hand, ard even in his sleep he
repeated his phrases without knowing it.
SO enthralling grew his passion for print
that if in wal.ing the streets he saw upon
| the ground but a mOrsel of paper with the
| character upon it he would fall into a no.
! bic passion. Havir z picked it up and ex-
ecrated the careless person who had cast it
aside, he would then bear it reverently to
! the corner of The street, and with an eiacu-
! latory sentence from Confucius or one of
| the Five Ancient Classics, deposit in the
receptacle there prepared for such precious
| litter.
| In spite of Seue's labors, however wear
after year went by, with failure ever in
| their train The thought OF his mother.
and the posi- Lllity that she was still work
! ing mischief for him, often depressed him
| UNNECESSARILY. But he struggled on brave
| ly, and at length really made substantial
| progress in the lists.
4 compassionate mandarin employed
him III the meantime rs a sort of fifth rate
clerk. The wage was Ridiculous, but Seng
and his wife made It suffice They trusted
| to the future to reCompcnse them.
This brings us to ~engS forty-SiXth wear
which found him il. Picking and a hot favor
lite for the honcrS of the examination that
was impending. The mandarin in whose
service lie WAS hai intrUsted him with q
commission of some L2!icacy. lie was to
bride a superior as j>iuteIy as possible for
certain purpose. 1t was by no means
TO- l. e.
and fulfilled it, 50 ,killiully indeed that he
gained the regard Of the sinner and then
he turned himself to his slips and moral
exercises with the zeal and sprightlin of
a boy.
1t shall he this year or never" he said
to himself. He sid it also to his tutor,
who had great confidence in him, and who
did not scrup,e over iuuumtrubla cups of
tea, to whisper it abroad that Piseng was
rs sure Of pace this year n man could be
Now piSenG was our friend fun name,
but for breyity's sake he WAS generally
| known by the ordinary name of Seng. In
the schools, howeye CT, he was of course en-
tered in full, and he prefix Pr gave him
a certain distinction which the multitude
! of other candidates, with names as com
mon as our smith" Brown" Robin
son, Jones' etc, by no means enjoyed
nations TO begin, the influx Of students
zlto the imperial city made a perceptible
difference in the population Of the streets
1t also caused proportionate excitement
among the students themselves their Kin
dred and the various proprietors of the lot
terieS, who were now to reap their annual
harvest of cash and taels from the specula-
tive inhabitants o. the city.
And this is one Of the many odd features
of life in the far east as contrasted with
life among ourselves.
In the south of Europe the lotteries are
concerned with inanimate numbers. You
invest your money on these in a series, and
thus you lose it--much more often than
not. With us horse racing seems on par
with the lotteries But the exalted China
man is not content with such methods of
profit and loss. At the time of the great
examination he backs candidates in a Sc
ries, even as the Italian with a spare half
franc backs the numbers his superstition
and the latest popular dream book urge
him to favor with his suffrages.
And so it happened that, as the fame of
Songs indefatigg bic industry and mora
than usually strenuous efforts at his stud
les became noised abroad in the parlors of
professors and the back streets of Picking,
the public began 20 fancy him rs a winning
card.
Great, then, was the run upon the series
in which the name Of Piseng appeared.
Word of this was, Of course, soon brought
to our friend, who abode with his wife in a
small house il a mean part of the city.
They shall not be disappointed" said
Seng, with i'll concealed elation. There
are virtues of different kinds, but of these
the pre-eminent ones are as follows"
All day long he gave himself over to his
labors His wife was as anxious as he
was. For the time she thought less about
her lovely almond shaped eyes and white
teeth than about the issue of the dreaded
examination. Indeed, the result of this
seemed to her almost of more consequence
than the fat broved little boy babe which
she bore upon her lap, and which had sig
nalized the past year by coming into the
world to bless her.
1t was absurd that they should starve
as underlings in mandarin's household