The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-09-21

the figure OF the great moralist. but IN
every Taoist temple there are affairs and
statues TO all !. three characters named
Just as Kwang-T the war god, was when
on earth a brilliant general whom his
grateful countrymen spotheosized, so Con-
fucius and Mencius have been deified and
by the common herd OF Shantung are re-
garded as -demi-gods occupying high
thrones in the other world.
Tie Chinese gentleman and scholar
pays reverence to these men in about the
same way as an educated Christian does
to st. Paul, but the farm laborer and the
coolie consider them supernatural beings.
more powerful than the river gods, the
sea gods or even Kwang-r himself.
There are sects in Shantung which claim
that Confucius and Mencius were of divine
origin, or were reincarnations Of the SUI
preme Being. One sect holds that they
were of immaculate conception: that
when they were born there were new
stars in the heavens at night and dragons
in the neighborhood Of their birthplace in
the daytime
One Shantung legend says that a huge
spotted dragon appeared near the birth
place of Confucius several months before
he was born. and that then the people
knew that the gods were about to send
one of themselves 10 the earth. The
dragon guarded the house. molesting no
one who came there on business, but de-
stroying all malefactors
Many of the Shantung women are strik-
ingly handsome Those of the working
classes are often models of combined
strength and grace. They. go barefooted
or else shod in light sandals. and are &C
customed to carry heavy burdens upon
their heads and shoulders. This mode Of
living gives them an erect carriage and a
muscular development of the trunk which
is very effective from an artistic
point Of view. The tiny-footed women
and the larger number of the women of
the south are small and often hollow
chested. Their shoulders are poor, and
their breasts after the age of twenty-five.
. but their sisters of the north have chests
which would do credit to a trained ath-
lete. They are quite picturesque in their
| treatment of the hair. II is oiled, combed
and brushed until it resembles polished
Jet It is brought out into rolls on either
side of the head. or into a curious plated
arrangement on top of the head and dec
grated with jewelled hairpins and nose
gays.
These hairpins form an important part
OF the toilet. The very poor use brass,
say one in ten. Eight in ten use silver.
and one in ten use gold. The pins fare
about as large as the hatpins Of western
women They are usually curved or
twisted slightly to prevent their falling
out, while the head of the pin is the field
in which the jeweler and the artist have
full scope to show their talent. AS the
hairpins are heirlooms 1t Is possible
to see in the hair of one woman the prod
ucts Of several generations of artificers.
The poorest woman has four or five pins.
while the wives of wealthy farmers. mer-
chants and officials have hundreds The
first wife Of the viceroy in 1880 was said
to possess collection of over a thousand.
Some of the designs were extremely
graceful One consisted of a bunch of
cherries, In which the stems were oxi-
died silver and the fruit little rubies.
Another was a little silver bird mounted
on a spiral wire so that the least move
ment Of the wearer's body made the fig
ure vibrate as If it were about to fly
away. Many of the pins have jade heads,
others precious stones, and still others
are filmy creations in colored enamel
Women and men are polite, but re-
served and taciturn to strangers, almost
to the point Of stolidity. After their con-
fidence is once gained, however, they talk
freely, and are kind. gentle and affection
ate. From these people the missionaries
have picked many young men or boys and
sent them to be educated in this country
and Europe The well known interpreter,
Wang Ching Foo, lived near Chefoo, but
was sent to this country when about six
teen and educated for the pulpit by the
Presbyterians.
Though the country Is poor, yet the peo-
pie turn 10 advantage every available foot
of territory. They are skillful farmers,
and though the winters are cold, manage to
get two or three crops a year from the
fields
But, oh, the grinding labor, Every bit
of garbage. offal and refuse from the city
are gathered as If they were priceless
treasures. They are carried on mems
shoulders out TO the fields. often five and
ten miles away. Here they are thrown
into watts and ripened. to use the polite
Chinese phrase; rotted. TO use simple
English. The vile mixture is then Labeled
out, diluted with water. and then applied
not wholesale, as fertilizers are used in
this country. but by the cupful to each
plant or vegetable. You get caulihowers
there a foot in diameter. as compact as
wood. which weigh from three to five
/ pounds each. Cucumbers. marrows and
melons are grown with so much body "a
them that they weigh usually twice as
much as their counterparts in America
Late in the autumn, when nothing viii
terminate, the native population turns
/ out and gathers every piece Of dead veg
etable tissue to use as fuel during the
/ cold season.
/ They grow very fair maize and medium
wheat and millet. The two chief staples
are beans and sukworns The beans arc
( Ike our common beans, but a trife larger
and richer IN oil. The latter could be er-
/ tracted more cbeaply andiu larger guam
/ titles by using the machinery Of the west
/ But the Chinese have thus far success
/ fully resisted every attempt 20 in troduce
/ presses and filters
/ Tie Chefoo silk industry Is carried on
upon 4 vast scale. Nearly every farm has
+ ifs group 81 mulberry trees, and one or
more r0sTns where cocoons are treated
threads are wound and even six IS
woven OF late years 4 few energetic
+ Cinnamon have introduced European
methods and conducted BUSINESS 90 a
large scale. One aiaturs employs about a
thousand hands, and score range from
ter % q hundred
Tho -u-e- u c5z-5ffzs sfo-, q .---.- g.,