The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-07-04

is wonder any profit is made at ell.
The two proprietors of this estab-
lishment, which, by the way, is called
the 'tyat shing," showed me into the
room where the designer of labels sat
at work. He YVES an old man, with
bamboo-bound spectacles, and sat at q
desk drawing flowers, gnomes and
dragons in all the grotesqueness of
Chinese art. had some of the char
acters on the labels translated. There
were three large characters in the
center, and they conveyed the useful
information of 'thousand, blazing,
hall" What does it mean? 1t is
word picture and endeavors to convey
the idea that their goods are Of such
asuperior quality that they are likened
unto large hall or palace blazing
with splendor. This is as good an ex-
PLANTATION as can be given. If you can
catch the idea you have the principle
of the Chinese language, but until you
do you will never be able to learn the
language of the celestial empire.
After the designer and engravers
have done their work the blocks 60 to
the printing room, where they are
printed with hand presses, but such
presses. If you would take old Ben
Franklin's press, break it to pieces
and prop it up with rope and bamboo,
you would have fair sample Of a
Chinese press. They are clumsy,
ric)lety-looking things, and look as if
breath of air would blow them over,
yet it is wonderful what Al amount OF
work can be done with them in day ;
besides the Chinese do not want
machinery. Human labor is cheap
for there is so much Of it, therefore
anything that will lesson labor is q
curse to the country. A mandarin
who introduced silk machine in Annoy
by doing so starved to death four hun.
dred families. We can better under
stand the large population Of this
country when We Learn that the pro-
vince of Nganhwui in China contains
"a, 16s, 200, while Kiang Su contains
3S, S43, 500, altogether making 72, OIL, :
700. Just think of it, two States in
China contain over 100000 more
people than, the whole United States.
As paper forms such an important
part of the frecracker you can imag-
inc the making of it must be large
industry in Canton, and 30 it is. How
ever, the paper mills are anything but
imposing structures They are low,
square buildings, with dirty, white
washed sides, the only pretty thing
about them being the large, double
tiled roofs with turned up corners.
There are no more than 100 workmen
in each mill, for paper being made
more easily than frecrackers it does
not need as many laborers. They are
also men born to the profession, men
whose children will grow up to be
paper makers after them. Every morn
ing of their lives they wake up with
the one endless routine before them
and they eat and sleep, too, in the
great paper mill. The paper is made
from the bark of the koon chon tree,
which is known in America under the
equally incomprehensible name OF
"aralis psphyrifeca," ground up with
lime and then baked in kiln. When
this is done the mass is hammered out
in the form of long rolls and then cut
up into slices, just as the confectioner
behind the great glass window cuts up
his long and yielding twist Of molasses
candy for the amusement of crowd
of boys outside and the benefit of those
who come in and buy.