San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-08-17
THE STOLID ESE.
He Can Sleep and Work In One
| Position.

He Gan sleep and Work In One
| Position.
Melbourne Leader.
ut seems to make no particular
difference to q Chinese how long he
remains In one position. Ii he is q
handicraftsman he will stand In one
place from dewy morn till dusky eve,
working away at his weaving, his
gold beating, or whatever it may be,
and do it every day, without any va
ration in the monotony and sppsr-
emily no special consciousness that
there Is any monotony to he varied.
I'm the same way Chinese school
children are subjected to an amount
OF confinement, unrelieved by any
recesses or change of work, which
would soon drive western pupils to
the verge of insanity. The very in
fants in arms, instead of squirmIng
and wriggling as our children begin
to do as soon as they are born, lie as
impressive IS so many mud gods. And
at more advanced age, when west
ern children would vie with the
monkey in Its widest antics, Chinese
Children will often stand, sit or squat
in the same posture tor great length
of time.
sin the item of sleep the Chinese
establish the same difference be-
tween himself and the occidental as
in the directions already specified
Generally speaking, he is able to
sleep anywhere. None of the tritllng
disturbances which drive us TO des.
pair annoy him. With brick for
pillow he can lie down on his bed of
stalks, of mud bricks or rattan, and
sleep the sleep of the Just, with no
reference to the rest of creation. He
does not want his room darkened nor
does he require others to be still. The
tinue to cry for all he cares, tor it does
not disturb him.
'In some regions the en- tire popu-
lation seem to fall asleep, as by q
common instinct Cike that of the
alternating bear during the first
two hours of summer afternoons, and |
they do this with regularity, no mat.
ter where they may be. At two hours |
after noon the universe at such sea
sons is as still as at two hours after |
midnight. In the case of most work |
ing people at least, and also in that |
OF many others, position in sleep is of
no sort of consequence. 1t would be |
easy to raise in China an army of q |
million-nay, of 10000, 0OO-tested by
competitive examination as to their |
capacity to 60 to sleep across three
wheelbarrows with head downward |
like spider, their mouths wide opta
and fly inside.
"The same freedom from tyranny of
nerves is exhibited in the Chinese |
endurance of physical pain. Those
who have any acquaintance with the |
operations in hospitals in China know |
how common or rather how almost |
universal it is for the patients to bear,
without flinching, a degree of pain |
from which the stoute of US would |
shrink in terror.
at would be easy to expand this |
topic alone into an essay, but we must |
pass it by, merely calling attention to |
remark of George Eliot, in one of |
her letters. The highest calling and
election, she says-irritated no doub
oy theological formulas, for which |
she had no taste-'is to do without |
opium, and to bear pain with clear
eyed endurance If she Is right there
can be little doubt that m )st Chinese,
at least, have made their calling and
election sure"