The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-11-29
CELESTIAL MANNERS.
THERE ARE NO LADIES AND GEN.
TLEMEN IN CHINA
How In Little Tricks of Deception the
1IongoIiaD Discounts the Four Hundred.
Keep Your Hat on at Table, but Pull OG
Your cOat-Etiquette at Church.

AnOY, China, Oct. 2O.=The best
graduate from DR.. BImber' s famous ed
ucational establishment, or the young
gentleman who has committed Chester
fields letters TO memory and initiated
Ward McA1lister a dozen years, would
find his learning of no avail the mo
ment he t1ied to cross the threshold OF
Chinese society.
Ia the language of the small boy, we
are not in it. Our etiquette and for
malities multiplied by ten would even
then sink into insignifcance alongside
of that which Is second nature to every
almond eyed lady and gentleman of the
Flowery Empire
Right here have already been guilty
Of = gross breach Of Celestial good
manners IN using the phrase lady and
gentleman. Such phrase is unknown
to John Chinaman. You cannot even
say it IN any one of his lis languages.
What we call a gentleman is his excel
lency ia the orient He may have a
wife. two or three, or a regular harem
But you never refer to them. When he
calls upon you, you must never say, How
IS your wife? or, How are the ladies Of
your household? The only ones who can
do that are his doctor. his relatives and
his most intimate friends. For an &C
quaintance. q mere stranger, to ask such
a question is almost an objectionable
sin.
Making a Call.
The simple ceremony of calling bel
comes q complicated system in the far
east. Several Gays before you give mo-
tice Of your proposed visit and set the
day subject to the approval of your host.
He answers the same on the next day,
thanking you and stating that no viii
be only too happy to see you. When you
make your visit, your runner goes ahead
Of your chair and sends in your card be-
fore You arrive. All this having been
done. you would suppose that the doors
would be open and everything ready to
receive you. This IS what dOesn t hap
pen. You reach the house and ind the
great ga0es closed, barred and bOlted
and cannot hear q sound of life within.
Your servant pounds upon the gate and
yells your name out at the top OF his
lungs. Thereupon Bedlam seenls 10
break loose The ser wants within bawl
your name and title from courtyard to
courtyard until It dies away inside OF
the house. NVatchdogs and ours snarl
and bay, and after a short wait the gates
are thrown open
They bow as you 60 past, look sur
or5sed at your appearance, although ev-
y
all day long and has had nothing else
to do bat think Of your call Yoar host
meets y01 in the first covered court He
clutches his two hands convulsively and
shakes them Until you fear they viii
get loose at the wrists You do the same
thing. He then backs q step and raises
his hands to cover his face, smiles and
bows until he Is nearly double. You
take one step sideways and do likewise.
Again he bows and expresses great de
light and surprise. You apologize for
the intrusion, but insist that you We're
going past BY accident and could not re-
sist the justifable temptation Of coming
in and paying your humble respects 70
his excellency- As this goes on he is
slowly backing into his drawing room,
and you are pursuing him with equal
skill and slowness.
a Bit Of subterfuge.
Two high bred Chinese gentlemen
Will fool around a half an hour at
time IN this manner-in fact, the longer
they can keep the game going in a
graceful and rhetorical man
ner the more it shows their education
and high manners
When you get into the drawing room, /
there IS another long spar as TO who
viii sit down last. Each insists upon /
the other taking his seat You finally
compromise by dropping simultaneous X
~ into your chairs, springing up and I
apologizlng to each other and then sit
hing down again
When you have got thus far, the
Rubicon is past, and the most difficult /
task is over You now enter a course OF /
mild falsehOods and pleasing deoeits- I
on apologize for being late. You are
lyvavS late TO matter if Won are q half (
an hour ahead of time. Your host is +
certain that you are mistaken and shat /
among all his friends you are u model /
IF punctualitv. You then tell him that +
you know the value of his more than /
valuable time and that you desire to +
spend just one second in the pleasure of +
ais company. This means that you are +
going to stay anywhere from one hour +
% week
He replies that he hopes you viii be .
able to spare enough of your leisure to +
ornament his household for q month. IF .
my one coughs or shows signs of being +
;icz at ALL the other must compliment +
lim upon his splendid physical appear
snce and assure him that he was never .
ooking better. To this the proper an
swer is that Won We're a hopeless wreck K
before coming into the house, but that
The unexpected honor has made you into +
new man. There are 80 Other false
hoods of this class through which you
slowly wander. Then vou reach a stage <
# comparative common sense In this +
part Of the game you comment upon +
Inc beauty of the house, the excellence E
IF his furniture. the beauty Of your .
hosts wearing apparel, the splendor Of .
sny 5ewelry he may have on.
A High Compliment