The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-08-18
CHIN As FAMED SAGE.
Remarkable Career of COnfucius,
Poet and Politician.

Remarkable Career of Confucius,
Poet and Politician.
From the New York Mail and Express
In the twentieth year of the Emperor
Ling, 551 b. c.. Confucius, the "all-com-
plete, ancient teacher and perfect sage"
first felt the light in the district of Chi
nese Tsow. His father was Shuh-leang
Heih, whose prowess was as large as his
stature, and his valor greater than both.
His mother, consort of Heihs senility,
and his second wife was Ching-tsae,
youngest daughter of the family of Yen.
The usual miraculous episodes encluster
his birth. When Confucius was only three
years old his father, Scholar Heih, died.
OF his early schooling little that is
trustworthy has been preserved. Certain
il is that his house knew full we'll the
pinch of poverty. AL fifteen Confucius,
Kew, or Confuse, had versed himself in
studies far beyond his years. At nine
teen he contracted an alliance with
lady of the house of Keen-kwan In the
following year the stork visited his dwell
ing. Chingtsae gave birth to a son. lie.
His Public Offices.
Confucius was made keeper of grain
stores, next warden of public fields and
lands. Even then his humblest duties
the fabric of much rich parable and
simile- were discharged with an uncom-
mon thoroughness and conscientious de-
votion AT two-and-twenty he flashed
forth into a public teacher; his house be-
came the rallying ground of thoughtful.
ardent youths. In 528 B. c. his mother
Joined her husband In the valley of the
shadow. Five years after, when Confu-
cius a man of north. south, east and
west" was twenty-nine. we find him
studying music under a famous principal
named Seang B. C. SIT saw him signaled
out as a teacher of proprieties to the son
of one of the chief members of Loo A
later date discovers him, a musical AGO
lyte. student of poetry, history, ceremon-
les. antiquity and ethics, imbibing wis
dom at the court of Chow. Here so en-
trancingly did a sages music appeal to
him that for three full months flesh food
and he were strangers.
Now occurs a much-debated incident
the rumored divorcing of his wife.
Wonderful Administration.
B. c. 500 in the early twilight of his
years, he was appointed chief magistrate
of Chung-too. and in this capacity proved
himself a manners reformer of no mean
prowess Next he was respectively as
sistsnt superintendent OF works under Duke
Ting: then minister of crime. During
this last tenure of office-popularized by
Difference 10 the verdict of one from
among his counselors. whichever was
most coeent-such became his sway that
no offenders showed themselves.
Confuse was now the darling of the
populace. Delegates of his administration
sped far atield, pilgrims focked in shoals
from other states. In the heyday of his
prosperity. al the turret of his power ar
rived that tragic throwback, which, from
a worldly viewpoint, was his undoing. By
the InachinGti ons of envious states. IL was
ccrtrived thai a cargo of eighty peerless
damozels should be presented 10 his SOW
ereign These were sent ostensibly as the
portion Of o goodwill offering, in reality
to seduce .he King from the teachings OF
his minister. The venonous plot succeeded
only to well For detected Confucius began
at So a cycle of weary wanderings which
were to last for thirteen years Through
all his farcships and perilous adventures
belief in divine mission sustained him.
His Period of Woe.
OF those travals and travels, in all like
| llhood were born his most consummate
maXims. Probably to that period we owe
his uplifting of ancestor worship into a
religion, many of his compilations, his i'm
mortal Analects, his Rules of Propriety
and the contiguous Five Rela lions of So
ciey TO be Observed. Throughout his tx
to the Omega of his obsequies, he seems to
have been characterized by lofty nobil-
ity. a grand independence of thought and
speech, transcendent purity of living.
Upon some alleged stains on his escutch-
con, such as the breaking of a forced oath,
| the praising of a gallant lie the present
writer has not sufficient knowledge or pre-
sumption to pronounce.
Chart able Co1futse ACKNOWLEDGED the
vital need of education for rich and poor
alike Narrow as to the func tons of wo-
man. he was quic k to see the influence OF
right examples and to insist upon their
practice by those in authority. To secure
| the common veal he rea izsd that good
rulers are good leaders-benevolent des-
pots, If you will-were Indispensable. Alive
before his time posterity awarded this
matchless conserver and transmitter a
| glorious recognition. Fer TWO thousand
years countless emperors made and i'll
make edoring pigrimeges to his shrine
To-day all native colleges raise side tenn
Piles TO his honor; his disciples may be
measured by the hundred million.
Return to Favor.
b. c. 4S3 by fortunate twist of fate,
the wanderer could return to Loo. Con-
fGtse was now sixty-nine, and thanks to
time and inward mastery. might FOL
low what his heart desired without
transgressing what was right" He alb
sorbed and dlffused wisdom and Poetry,
collated history's pebbles and undertook
the reformation CT music. B. c. 4S2 was
blazed by the demise of his son. lie, to-
ward whom he Rad. of principle main
tanned stern reticence and dignity. Of
his daughters, although we know one
at least he had little or nothing to say
His declining years were punctuated by
the death of loved apostles, whose ndi-
vidual loss apparently affected him more
keenly than that of his own son.
Early one forenoon this kirg without a
throne with ira ling STAFF toddled out
into the sunshine. AS he went he shipper
ed his melancholy swan song: THE great
mountain must crumble, the strong beam
must snap and he wise man wither away