The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-01

Books mailed free by Swift Specific
Company, Atlanta, Georgia.
mon may be had everywhere, from stroll
ing vendors by the road side among the
helds, in the towns and villages. The per-
summon IS about eight or ten inches in
circumference, with a thick, glossy skin
OF the deepest orange red within 1t Is
full of rich, sweet pulp, and touched with
frost loses its astringent quaiity-like the
/ dwarf species which grow in the United
States. The Chinese, however, are really
most skillful cooks, eXcelling in two chief
essentals-thorOughly seasoning and cook
ing their food until it is done. One does
not watch the process too closely, how
ever, as their work is largely done in the
! open air, in clouds of dust, in vessels that
are seldom cleaned, and with hands that,
though of another color. recall the lamen-
tation of Lady Macbeth
In warm weather Chinese inns swarm.
with every known species of vermin that
can crawl, jump or bite When it grows
cold they become torpid, and that is anoth-
er urgent reason for postponing journeys
into the country aside from the condition
of the roads, until the autumn. By that
time their numbers have either been de-
creased, or, at least, disabled by the cold.
Unless worn out by many days of continu-
b Jus ilu4uS Ill d cart, or on 4 donkey, II Is
difficult to sleep in these primitive places,
leaving vermin and the adamantine K ang
out of the question For while the houses
along one side of the open court are re-
served for guests, on the opposite side are
open stalls for the animals, and here DON
keys and mules MUNICH and bray all night,
mingiing their stamping with that of tired
and impatient horses 1t will be seen,
therefore, that travelling away from the
coast and the waterways is still difficult
and fatiguing, and, in spite of the cheap
ness of servants, carts and lodgings, it is
very expensive in the end. So much i'm
pedimenta must be carried for even a few
days absence that the traveller looks as
though he were equipped and provisioned
for a journey across the empire-carters
donkey boys, a cook and ordinary serv-
ants being considered indispensable for a
very ordinary degree of comfort.
I have spoken of reluctant innkeepers;
we encountered one such specimen. Upon
cur first arrival, at nishtfall, after hav-
inc cross d a stretch of country known
to be overrun by a dangerous band of
bhers We were unwillingly permitted
to stay oil night. The court was filed with
carts and animals, and it was evident that
the man told the truth when he said the
inn was crowded. He gave US shelter for
the night, however, although he insisted
that our staff of carriers and servants
SnOulI occupy one OF lne ROOMS OF the
sdite-a plan which we Immediately We
toed and to which they themselves, with
the never failing sense of Chinese pro-
rriety. also strongly objected. Upon our
return we were met at the gate and re-
fused admttance. The forward mule at
lached 10 my litter, recognizing the inn,
as a Chinese mule does instantly, and US
Ually with a joyous bray plunged into
lha entrance to the courtyard, notwith-
standing this prohibition, and it required
the innkeeper and four stout assistants
to back him out, the animal violently and
nosily protesting to the delight of a
large audience which Immediately assem-
bled
NV fr:ends-for we were two lone wo-
mer-b ad preceded me by some hours,a
SIZE investigated the next place. This
proved to be a dark, dirty place, with a
heap of fifth piled up beside the door
of the room in which we would have TAX
en- our luncheon We had been on the
road since o'clock. and carriers and
males were both very tired. The carter
begged to stay, but Mrs. c. replied:
"For myself | should not care; l am
used to it"-as after twenty years resi-
dence in China, she certainly was. But
she crafty added. appealing to The CHI
nese sense of pride. Il could not bring
traveller from the West into such place
as this she is not used 10 ii. She could not
eat in a smell like this.
Whereupon the carter turned to the ex-
pectant innkeeper and said succinctly:
"She despises your smell
The innkeeper in turn, with characters
tic Chinese Independence, replied: Then
let her go somewhere else"
w at last found refuge in a camel inn
dilapidated and dirty beyond all imagin-
inc But we could rest on the k'ahu-
the inhabitants hibernating-and we had
some tea and such food as remained from
our depleted stores The audience that
gathers on such occasions might embar-
raes one not Injured to their close inspec-
ton As the lunch-baskeis were unpack-
cd ono man remarked-the language be ng
perfectly ineligible 10 MIS- G--' VINO
smoke it fluently.
IT know what comes next-the butter
tho foreigners love of butter being to the
chinese as inexplicable as most otheF
Western tastes and habits.
he then explained to his less enlighten-
ed friends that he had seen foreigners ca
before cup at the Wall the Gre1t Wall
every one has a plate to himself,
continued land they take out a clean
white cloth and spread 1t on the ground
EVERY one has white clo'h, too-a
smaller one-and everything is terribly
clean" -
The cleanliness of foreign houses and
-,longings IS something of which the Chi
nese always speak with sort OF admir-
nr awe, for they do admire tin others.
NV companion was missionary, ana the
nan asked her "if the other woman
Preached. too?'
"Oh. no" he was told. she is writer
a much greater distinction in semi-civil-
ized China than It is in the West-"and
she will write Of what she sees and II