The morning call., 1894-06-24

small of the back. He was bowling for
aims as he did so, and had basket fas-
tened to string, which he passed around
between the blows. After his posing
lighted up and his eyes opened, and he
ran off on the trot, the happiest beggar in
Marking. Other beggars cut themselves
with knives 10 excite pity, and | saw one
Yesterday on what may be called the
Vanity Fair of this city who had cut off
his toes, and was lying on the stones with
the bare stumps sticking out. One of
the feet was still bloody, and the sight
almost made me sick. Many of these
Deggars go about In boats, and there is
creek near Shanghai which is filled with
boats of beggars, who go out over the coun-
try to prey upon the people. There is jolly
beggar along the YaDgtse who has but one
leg. but who sculis himself about from
place TO place in a little canoe, and gathers
up the cash from the thousands who come
near him on the water. / saw here yester-
day on the steps of the Temple of Con-
fucius boy, who was pounding his head
I'D and down upon his knees to excite pity.
He had no arms, and he looked al me in a
daZed way when l pointed my camera at
him. Many Of these beggaTs go about in
gangs of from three to q score, and this is
especially the case with the blind beggars.
They have their leader, who goes ahead
with stick, and the others, women and
the shoulder, and carrying baskets for
cash or rice.
The worst beggars of the world, how
ever. are the diseased beggars of China.
Men and women sometimes take babies
with the smallpox about in their arms and
enter the stores to beg. The shopkeepers
are glad to throw them some cOppers TO
get them to move on. The lepers are
ant other set of bad citizens. They are
found all over China, and they are desper-
ate In their applications for help. They
have their unions and they levy blaekmail
upon every funeral. If they do not re-
ceive 1t they sometimes make il lively for
the mourners. At Canton they wait at the
cemetery and approach the funeral pro-
cessions as they come In. They will take
promises in case the head of the occasion
has no money at hand, but if no money is
sent they will dig up the bodies and hold
them until they are ransomed.
The Chinese are, however, far more
ch irritable than is generally suppo sed.
They take better care of their families
than any other people of the world, and a
man is supposed TO aid his poorer relatives
and help them on in the world. With all
the beggars there are, / venture, there are
fewer unemployed people here in China to-
day In proportion to the population than
there are in America. The Government
has charitable institutions and its officials
are always giving out of their own pockets.
Some extracts from the great Govern ment
Journal of China lie before me. From
them / see that $4,000 was lately sent to
some of the inhabitants of Mongolia who
had suffered through la rebellion there,
and that lady In Picking had just sent
$1,000 10 relieve some poor people in her
native province of Anhui.
In most of the cities there are Govern
ment granarles where rice Is stored up for
the poor against famine, and there are
blind asylums, leper asvlums, and in some
places, l am told, public hospitals. There
are 10 lunatic asylums, and families have
to take care OF their own insane. There
are no warehouses;, but there are soup
kitchens and clothing clubs, and rice anu
clothing tickets are often given to the
needy in times OF famine and in the winter.
The huts in which the beggars live here are
mere sheds of the thinnest BAN boo mat
ting plasteTed on the inside with mud.
These usually line the walls outside of a
Chinese city. They are so small that ii is
hardly possible 10 stand upright within
them, and the average size is not larger
than the area of hall bedroom. The floor
is the ground. and this often forms the bed
of the family. There is usually partition
which divides the hut in half, and the
cooking is done over fire of straw which
is built upon the ground or in ons of the
clay stoves which are used everywhere
throughout this part of China. There is,
1t must be rem am bered, no law against
begging ln emma, ana the beggars here
have as many rights as any other citizens
Our Ideas of the Chinese, however are
crude in the extreme. This is a country
of the rich as well as of the poor, and
see every hour the evidences of social,
intellectual and Industrial life, which are
different from any descriptions of China |
have ever read, and which are interesting
in the extreme.
Y ren>A< Z. Ca4..,Aa~