The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1899-02-17
d1)N19I1IdLNI QNY SI9T Hill
BE, AR ND, FEBRUARY II. 1899.

every aay. sun tncy would always Keep
near the houghs 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 the branch that had been brought
first from tho garden. She appraised her
parents of the news and between them
they soon found the truth. They had dis
covered the transitory fol ms of the deyel
cpment of the silkworm.
After that time Emperor Hoang-Ti w;
often seen in deep thought Whenever i
found the empress ut her loom he woul'
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
tho household to tho minister of war one
day; This majesty has not listened to me
or heard ono word of my verbal report
about what measures l propose to employ
to stop the damage done by the caterpil-
lars in the imperial gardens. We would
have ample work for Mt least $50 people II
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"
"Oh, yes, you arc quite right" rctorted
the minister of war. His 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 tho little princess, and when
I had finished no 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-
| spcctivc errands Their astonishment
| about the whims of their imperial master
| rose higher still when in the following
spring Emperor HoangT gave orders TO
collect all the worms that could be found
| OH tho mulberry trees and had them fed
| and cared for in tho largest state halls of
| his sumptuous palace. The empress and
the princess supervised this work in per
| son, and noverR day passed without tho
| 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 u yarn Of a
/ flneness previously unknown. When a
| sufficient quantity of tho yarn had been
| obtained, the princess again turned to her
| loom, and what she woye 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 tho silk industry. Soon he also
| taught the art Of dyeing the silk in vari-
| Gus colors by means of vegetable dyestutfs
| The first silk fabric that came from the
| loom of the empress was worked into a
| garment for the little princess, Louit-Sue,
| who was radiant in the dazzling yellow
white dress, but the very next was q hand
| some shining gown for the emperor, in
| blue-the color of the sky-and yellow
| the color of the earth-in memory of tho
beautiful spring morning when the EN-
| pcror in the light of Il radiant sky had
| discovered on earth wherewith to mako
his people wealthy and happy.
Long ere grim death put an eEd to the
| glorious reign of Emperor Hoang Ii many
thousands of Industrious workmen We're
| engaged in the newly created manufac-
| ture of silk. When the entire people
| through delegates wanted to thank the
1
to the nation the modest monarch dis.
claimed all merit and only said that he
had thought "a novel occupation would
be tho 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 n man to erect "a InOnu-
mcnt to his memory such as no mortal
had ever received, but then there appeared
all 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, "crect to the
| man who was more modest than the mean
est among you n monument made Of iron:
| Very well, then, do so if you think it will
| satisfy your sense of gratitude, but ii
| would be far more beautiful if you could
| succeed in setting an everlasting monu-
| n.ent to Emperor Hoang- Ii in tho mem.
DRY OF our entire nation. Teach your
children to look up in clear nights to the
| starry heavens above and to couple with
| tho 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
OH 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 Hoang III ever had a
metal monument erected to his memory,
nor where it once stood, but when night
falls in tho 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 We're looking for,
and then they joyfully exclaim, "Tsan'
Fang, the little silkhouser'
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.