The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1899-01-18

butterflies would not cat of the fresh null
berry leaves she had brought In for them
every day. Still they would always keep
near the boughs placed in the room.
Shortly after the clever child made another
discovery.
She found upon the boughs tiny globules
and remembered having seen similar ones
upon tho branch that had been brought
first from the garden. She apprised her
parents of the news and between them
they soon found the truth. They had dis
covered the transitory forms of the devel-
opment Of the silkworm.
After that time Emperor Hoang-Ti was
often seen In deep thought. Whenever he
found the empress at her loom he would
remain at her side for hours, watching
her quick hands guiding the shuttle
through the warp. 1t went SO far that
while looking at the empress work he
would sometimes neglect even urgent
affairs of state.
",Just think of it," said the master of
the household to the minister of war one
day; "his majesty has not listened to me
or heard one word of my verbal report
about what measures / propose to employ
to stop the damage done by the caterpil
lars in the imperial gardens. We wou.d
have ample work for at least $50 people if
the emperor had sanctioned my plan and
approved of the creation of the new charge
of imperial caterpillar destroyer. l even
had imagined most handsome uniforms
for these very useful officials"
ooh, yes you are quite right" retorted
the minister of war. Ellis majesty GER
tainly lacks the mental vigor of former
days. While read my report on the state
of our northern Notifications yesterday
the emperor played the whole time with
one of the little egg shaped balls made by
the worms of the little princess, and when
had finished he had pulled it to pieces
and into numberless fine threads"
The two old courtiers shook their gray
heads in dismay and went on their re-
spective errands. Their astonishment
about the whims of their imperial master
rose higher still when in the following
spring Emperor Hoang-T gave orders to
collect all the worms that could be found
on the mulberry trees and had them fed
and cared for in the largest state halls of
his sumptuous palace The empress and
the princess supervised this work in per-
son, and never day passed without the
emperor himself inspecting the progress
of his hobby When the worms ceased
feeding on leaves and began spinning their
cocoons, the emperor came forward with
little machine, which made it possible
to unwind the fine threads from the Co
coons and to turn them into q yarn of a
fneness previously unknown. When a
sufficient quantity of the yarn had been
obtained the princess again turned to her
loom, and what she wove then was not
wool, but the new fiber procured by the
machine of the emperor from the cocoons.
! The monarch had thus become the found
er of the silk industry. Soon he also
taught the art of dyeing the silk in vari-
GUS colors by means of vegetable dyestuffs.
The first silk fabric that came from the
loom of the empress was worked into a
garment for the little princess, ouit-Sue,
who was radiant in the dazzling yellow
white dress, but the very next was hand
some shining gown for the emperor, in
blue-the color of the sky-and yellow
the color of the earth-in memory of the
beautiful spring morning when the en-
peror in the light of radiant sky had
discovered on earth wherewith to make
his people wealthy and happy.
Long ere grim death put an end to the
glorious reign of Emperor Hoang III many
thousands of industrious workmen were
| engaged in the newly created manufac-
| ture of silk. When the entire people
through delegates wanted to thank the
emperor for giving his valuable discovery
to the nation the modest monarch dis
! claimed all merit and only said that he
! had thought "a novel occupation would
| be the most adequate means to raise the
moral standard of his people and to COM
bat poverty.
After the death of Emperor Hoang-Ti
the people rose as q man to erect q monu-
ment to his memory such as no mortal
had ever received, but then there appeared
an old anchored, who had for many years
lodged in the mountains in deep seclusion
and exhausted all earthly wisdom. Would
you, said he to the people, "erect to the
man who was more modest than the mean
est among you monument made of iron?
Very well, then, do so if you think it will
satisfy your sense of gratitude, but it
would be far more beautiful if you could
succeed in setting an everlasting monu-
ment to Emperor HoangTi in the mem
ory of our entire nation. Teach your
children to look up in clear nights to the
starry heavens above and to couple with
the brightest Of the stars the memory of
the great emperor and with the hardly less
brilliant star next to it the thought of his
noble wife. Let that pious devotion pass
on to your children and to your children S
children indefinitely
And so it happened. Thousands of years
have since gone by. We know not whether
the great Emperor HoangTi ever had a
metal monument erected to his memory,
nor where it once stood, but when night
falls In the Flowery Kingdom and star
upon star flashes up in the sky then the
little Chinese children come out of their
houses. They turn up their eager faces
and search among the stars until they
have found what they were looking for
and then they joyfully exolaim, "Tsan-
Fang, the little silkhouse!n
And then they think Of the great EN-
peror Hoang-Ti who more than 45 CEN
turtles ago understood the art to observe
natures own forces at work and to make
use of what he learned for the benefit of
his people.-From the Chinese in Chicago
Inter Ocean