The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1895-11-09

able. Therefore when they scourge Chi
ma with drought or famine the Emperor
publicly blames himself. and increases his
devotion to the Gods whom he has neg
lected This missionary said that he
employed a watchman at his mission, but
as year after year went by without Il visit
from burglars he at last discharged the
watchman. Immediately thieves broke
into one of the buildings The watchman
was not a party to the crime. The thieves
had kept away out Of neighborly regard
for him. but when he was discharged there
was no reason for longer staying their
hands. The reader may be sure that the
watchman was at once restored to his old
post.
THE DUCK FARMS OF CHINA
We expected to see something wonder
fully fine when we came to Soo-chOw; for
does not the ancient proverb read, ''Above
are the halls of heaven; below are SOO-
chow and Hang g-chow? But We only
saw what afterward seemed to us typl-
cal Chinese city, and it is not to the cities
that | would especially recommend sight
seers to 90 The fame and splendor of a
Chinese city lie not upon its being any
cleaner than others, or upon its having
wider streets, but upon the wealth of its
merchants, the number of its pagodas,
the gorgeousneSs of its temples, the beau
ty of its tea-gardens, and the like Thus
500 chow is great, and its women are
called the bellies of the world There the
floating duck farms and the multitudes OF
river craft interested us most In quiet
reach of water beside the walls we saw
many focks of ducks, each containing five
hundred to Il thousand birds. The shores
were covered, and the water was alive with
them The herders sat idly in small
boats, while the ducks swan freely about,
each flock making great tremulous brown
spot upon the water. We watched to see
one flock join another, and to discover how
the owners would separate them afterward,
but they did not join forces, and | doubt
whether they ever would. The brakes
led their followers away whenever two
herds came too near. On another day,
near Soo-chow, we saw duck farm bigger
than all these put together.
What would the reader think of seeing
farmer travelling to market with as
many ducks as could be crowded into
more than the space of the park between
the City Hall and the Post-ofice in New
York city-a mass Of perhaps two city
blocks of duck flesh and feathers? That
was what was driven past us on the Grand
Canal one day. Two men in two boats
were driving the ducks before them, all as
thick upon the water as they could swim.
Each man carried long slender bamboo
rod with the heart Of a palm leaf on the
end of it. With this he kept the red and
gray squawking mass in order. He
whipped back into its place every duck
that sagged out of the mass, or that Jagged
behind, or showed disposition to make
for the shore Suddenly several boats
came along in the opposite direction-a
big chop-boat and two or three smaller
vessels. They were sailing swiftly before
fresh breeze directly down upon the acre
or two of ducks. There seemed no way Of
preventing a terrible slaughter of poultry
The big chop-boat like house blown be-
fore a gale, sped toward the advancing
feathered host, and at last the birds thai
were in the way were almost under hel
bows. Then a futter seized many square
yards of ducks, the immense flock broke
apart, crack in it opened before the
chop boat, and widened until the boat
swept through a canal that divided the
flock. Not one duck was run over