Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-06-23

especially the case with the blind beggars
They have their leader. who goes ahead
with stick, and the others. women and
men. follow, holding on to each other by
the shoulder. and carrying baskets for cash
or rice.
The worst beggars of the world, however
are the diseased beggsrs 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 another set of bad
citizens. They are found all over China and
they are desperate in their applications for
help. They have their unions, and they levy
olackmal upon every funeral II they do
not receive IT they sometimes make 1t lively
Tor 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 occa sion
has no money at hand. but II no money is
sent they will dig up the bodies and hold
them until they are ransomed
Charitable lishments.
The Chinese are, however far more char
liable than is generally supposed. They
take better care Of their families than any
other people OF the world, and a man is sup
posed to aid his poorer relatives and to helm
them on in the world. With all the beggars
there are, venture. fewer UNEMPLOYED peo-
pie here in China today in proportion 10 ire
popuiatlon than there are in Anne RIGA. The
It's of1cials are always giving out of their
own pockets. Some extracts from the great
government 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 a late rebellion there
ana that lady In Picking had just sent a
thousand dollars to relieve some poor people
In her native province of Anhui
In most OF the cities there are govern
nent granarieS where rice Is stored up for
the poor against famine. and there are blind
ssylums, leper asyiums. and in some
places, 1 am told, public hospitals There
are no lunatic asyiums. and families have
TO take care OF their own insane There are
no work houses. but there are soup kitchens
and clothing clubs, and rice and clothing
tickets are often given to the needy in
times OF famine and in the winter The
nuts In which the beggars live here are
mere sheds of the thinnest bamboo mat
ting plastered on the inside with mud
These usually line the walls outside of a
chinese city. They are SO small that 1t Is
hardly possible to stand upright within
them. and the average size Is not larger
than the area OF a hall bed room. The floor
Is the ground and this often forms the bed
of the family. There is usually a partition
which divides the hut in half and the
cooking Is done over a fire of straw which
Is built upon the ground or in one of the
clay stoves which are used everywhere
throughout this part of China. There is
II must be remembered, no law against beg
ging In China. and the beggars here have
as many rights as any other citizens.
Our Ideas of the Chinese, however are
crude in the extreme. This is country Of
the rich as well Of the poor, and | see
every hour the evidences of a social intel
lectual and Industrial life. which are Diff
ferent from any descriptions Of China
have ever read. and which are interesting
in the extreme.