New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-10-14

But they gave quite another eNpIdhdtIOiA my
read the European alphabet with apathy te-
cause the letters spell nothing beyond the mae
rial sound. But Chinese characters are AMI
mated and have souls ard motion Of their own
In the Louvre they said:
(which speaks 70 you more-these statues
above OF the inscriptions which label theHl
underneath? Every shade of the brush II our
characters the interningling Of lines and curves
suggests to us the faintness. energy or deIlcacy
Of the most shadowy nuance Of thought we
express our ideas in painting. not in writing.
and we give coIoring, energy motion and lie to
our letters"
They complained bitterly Of the French gram
mar, and one could well sympathize with them
Men who have idea of gender and nui'oeT'
declension derivation, cOnjugadon and syntAX
must feel bored to death to have to suodue the
| natural repugnance felt for things for which a
the start they can see no reason Indeed. tAeS
learned more willingly the dictionary than tne
grammar They mastered first the examples
| in the grammar and then turned back to learn
! the rules Their memories were prodiglous, put
| they showed a corresponding lack OF Thought
and Judgment Requested to classify the eIlI-
ings Of the first conjugation Of French VeFos.
they did the work with a vengeance without
| regard to tense mood, number or person the
endings were patiently hunted up and elasSinec
| according to the number OF the letters eonros-
! ing them
| When they passed to logic it was hard 70 eX-
| plain to their comprehension the principle o.
| composition. Their intellectual politeness IL
seemed could not refuse hospitality TO any thing
and they strained their wits to show always the
possibility Of reconciliation, if by no other means
than affirming proposition after another
They were under the impression that every p-o-
fessor, no matter what his speciality, must know
everything. and would often ask their teacher
In arithmetic a question in chemistry OF physics
They were extremely eager to learn ahoG,
natures phenomena and we're always schem.ns
as TO how to apply them especially to entertain
and astonish their friends but were slow IL in
vestigate their laws and causes.
The wife of the married student could not De
induced to enter a chemical physical labor
atory She thought that the evil spirits al
: though unlimited, took part some way or another
= in the production of extraordinary phenomena
She refused to discuss the matter at al
ARITHMETIC DELIGHTS THEM
They were extremely quick at figures II
arithmetic their quckness and accuracy were
astonishing. Algebra was difficult; short
problems were done Well but the long onss.
spIendidly begun. ended invariably by hurried
wind UP in order to make 4 short cut % soiu-
ton. In geometry they were rather poor.
They learned by heart rapidly the names Of
heavenly bodies not known To Chinamen, but
J the laws of gravitaJOD they could not under
stand 1t was only with the greatest fi-uity
that the idea of the laws OF nature being fixed
and Interchangeable became COMPREHENSIVE %
them.
Their preference in architecture TO- The
Gothic rather than the Roman and the Renais-
sance styles. They We're especially fond of the
Greek style. as shown in the exterior Of The
Madeleine and the Bourse. In fact, their
architectural taste could be summed up IL
simplicity and ColOnnade-' They detested long
horizontal lines. They liked the Tuileries, prob
ably because Of the elaborate decoration in rel.es
on its walls.
| A great difficulty was experienced in trying q
| reconcile them to realism in painting, and espe-
cialy to perspective They stopped to admire
portraits, but scenery did appeal 10 them
They showed a marked preference for the hiy-
| ratio Byzantine They cared little about RaphaeL
| Michael Angelo. VerOnese or even the gorct Gus
| coloring of Titan In drawing they were prot
cient. One could draw the outline Of q man.
looking the whole time az him and aevcr al the
paper
In sculpture they admired the colossal and
statues representing sport. They passed over
| and over again with absolute Indifference Greek
and Roman statuary. They did not even favor
Apollo Belvedere with second glance. After
several visits to the LAGOON group they OBJ