Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1899-12-29

soliciting the protection and frequent wish
tation of the patron genius, the general
surroundings are quite sufficient TO asphyx-
late the saint and bar his attempted en-
trance by the odors from the portals, which
he would never be able TO survive.
Dried meats, dripping fats, CORY beef and
glistening entrails are suspended over the
street, also seml-roasted choat, squirting
cells, Shiny snakes and shrivelled fowl en-
tice the hungry and add redolence to the
atmosphere; ducks spines and sun-baked
turtles, wormy fish and a miscellaneous
mixture of unknown flesh, as we'll as sug-
gestively Gagged cats, all tend to give the
dried rat a suitable setting and make his
presence acceptable and his reputation as
a luscious food in Canton a fact.
The birds nest IA glutinous composition)
from southern cliffs here becomes a luxury
and retails at 80 cents per, as is also the
dried seaweed from Japan, which alone is
within the means of the wealthiest to buy.
Not that the above would render Canton
unhealthful, but the unavoidable admix-
ture of variety and the impalatable system
of combinations and computations when
one finds similar market adjoining
blacksmith shop and an undertaken shar-
ing few feet with bakery Is apt to have
its unbalaucing impressions and suggest
unsavory sentiments. However, there's
another side to Canton, and although it
can't be considered or inspected apart from
the eslranging existences mentioned, 1t de-
| deserves more mention and Is naturally
more salubrious and satisfying, though less
| representative of the Cantonese as they, as
a class, are.
Their temples to Mohammed and Budha
and Confucius are all poorly constructed,
and, as a whole, are very inartistic, but the
numerous pagodas (some nine and 10 stories
high) are most picturesque and deserving
| of mention as characteristic samples of
Chinese architecture and expressed idiosyn.
cracies Ivory carving, jade jewelry and
silk shops seem TO rank foremost Ia the in
dustry of the people, and especially skilled
are the artists who paint pith paper mot so
commonly called rice paper), made from a
growth in Formosa, and also those who
make the "kingfsher feather" jewelry by
sticking the colored bits of the feather on
to figured designed jewelry.
Characteristic of the Chinese is their an
cestral worship which prompts them to
start the dead on their future journey Of
transmigration with great care and prepa-
ration. In the "City of theiDead," where
hundreds of the wealthier class entomb
their dead for months before burial, is the
coffin of the wife of the governor of Foo
chow which cost over $4,000 MEX and re-
uuired the labor Of a dozen men three
years to lacquer.
The examination hall consists of a
walled area lined with bricked cells large
enough for one man TO sit down and write,
and entirely closed except the opening for
light in the door.
These examinations are held once year,
on which occasion old and young strive 10
be enrolled among the SS selected, and
many men have grown gray in the yearly
attempt. In these cells, numbering about
II 900, men come from all over China and
must bring their own food aud materials
and, after being searched for anything
which would be of assistance to them In
the examination, they are locked in the
cells for three days and three nights fol
} three different times and at the end of the
nine days imprisonment the successful
scholars receive the first degree and come
the next year for the second. This give:
them the degree of M. A. and with thi:
they are entitled to go TO the examination
held in Pekin and try for the third, fourth
and fifth degrees, which secures for then
! the title and Office of Mandarin. Its no
uncommon to find as many as so dead mer
in the cells at the end of the examination
, who have become exhausted and persisted
] from sheer mental taxation and overwork
From the above and much that nigh
reiterate, more at length, you'll get an idei
of what a sojourn in Canton offers you
! and when adding the customs and prac
tees which are today as unaltered as the!
were a thousand years ago, you will readil.
D understand that foreign Influences have ye
a great field and greater chance for fail
$ ure in Canton than in any other city II
the Orient. G. FRED CHILDs.