The Red Cloud chief., 1899-05-06
I'm CHINESE SCHOOL
MOST WONDERFUL ALPHABET
IN THE WORLD.


or all their studies, the almond .eycd
youngster finds writing the most en-.
' )ovabie, says the Liverpool Chronicle
rhey use a small brush instead OF a
pen anu daub on the Ink with a lavish
ness dear to the Juvenile heart. They
write one letter over another till the
page Is black as a cooking stove. and
the copybooks become so wet that Il
Is necessary to hang them over the
renee to dry. A comical sight. truly.
ana II which proclaims to the passer-
~ MS proximity TO a schoolhouse. II
nay be remarked that blotting paper Is
IN the flowery land.
There are no public schools IN
nina, or. indeed. schoolhouses of any
KIND, But the boys and girls of the
dowery land repair to the house OF
their teacher to pursue their studies.
Ibey do not sit upon the floor. as Is
commonly supposed, for. although they
ave no school furniture such as Is
used In this country, they are provided
with common chairs, upon which they
sit while studying. During recitations
they stand around .heir teacher.
Long before reaching the schoolroom
Visitors may hear the pupils vocifer-
ousiy shouting their lessons and maxi
ing a din which is, to say the least,
confusion to n unaccustomed to their
method OF study. But when one real
ICES an arduous task II Is to learn
ones A b C's in China. II is no longer
a matter of surprise that studying
aloud Is permitted. Think OF commit
ting to memory PA elementary char
acters! tThese characters take the
place OF our alphabet, for the Chinese
language has no alphabet like ours.)
That Is what the Chinese boys and
girls mus do. and this Is only the be-
ginning OF the trouble, for these char
acters are grouped together to form
words. of which there are more than
10000 In the Monaghan language.
Moreover, some OF these words have
forty different meanings. the slgnia-
canoe OF a word varying with It's in
Election. Another popularity of the
S'~
Chinese written language Is that the
beginning OF the book corresponds to
the m of II OF ours, so that the
pupil appears to US to begin at the end
OF the last line on the last page and
to be reading backward.
In studying arithmetic, Chinese pu-
pills use the abacus, or counting ap-
paratus, a frame strung with wires on
which are gayly colored balls. such as
we see In the primary schools In our
country, and which we have copied
from the Chinese.
They do not study geography, for
the reason that the Chinese think
there Is no country besides their own
Is of any Importance. On their
maps China is represented as occupy
Ing the greater part OF the earth:
other countries being grouped around
middle kingdom-as the Chinese
Are accustomed to speak of their coun-
-ry-and made to appear as Insignificant
possible.
Girls and boys dress exactly alike.
that the boys wear their hair
n a pigtail, while the girls have a fun
ny little wisp on the top of their heads.
n some parts of China it is very cold,
as the houses are not warmed like
ours in winter the children-and
people, too-keep comfortable
~ putting on n dress over another
III they are so bundled up they can
move. Possibly this may
'eem a very uncomfortable way of
comfortable, but the Chinese
little folks are not given to complain
ne.