The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-02-04

enough, and so they exc out an existence.
1t is doubtful If there is ever a moment
when they do not feel the pangs of hunger.
more or less keen; or If any of them have
ever, for a single day, known what it was
to have as much food, even of the cheapest
kind as they wanted. During the winters,
which. though there is no snow far
south as Shanghai, are often cruelty Sc
we're, they suffer frightfully from cold,
hands and feet being swollen and blistered
with chilblains. Although the water upon
which their boats lie thickly packed to-
gether is unspeakably polluted, it is that
in which they wash themselves, when they
do wash-which is rarely; out of which
they make their tea, when they have it to
make, or boil the dried willow leaves
which the poor use as a substitute-and in
which they stew their rice; fostering. green
with scum, one ceases to wonder that
plague and cholera beneficently sweep
away these wretched beings by thousands.
NJ. Simon. In his misleading work upon
China, exaggerates many things and sup
presses others. He writes, for instance, of
the public institutions for the care of the
aged and destitute. The real fact is, that
China has no charitable institutions of any
sort, no hospitals or asylums worthy the
name, that were not founded and main
tanned by foreigners, by missionaries al
most wholly; there never were any worthy
of mention until Western benevolence-
Christian benevolence-flrst showed the
way. Now the Chinese are falling into line
as fast as they are able, and as fast as the
absorption of the means of the people by
Japan will permit. There are terrible
places that profess to be asylums for old
women-one supported by Lady 1.-the
wife Of Ii Hung Chang. 1t was merely a
shelter, infested with vermin, without
means of heating. unsupplied with the
commonest comforts. in comparison to
which an ordinary Western stable would be
an abode of luxury. Here old women who
are beggared and friendless are permitted
to hide themselves, In rags and filth, to
find food as they can; and 1t is possibly
one degree better than being left unshel-
tered to the elements. There are similar
refugees for children, are said to be;
have never seen them.
THE UNPROTECTED DEAD.
In the north even the poor manage to
find graves for their dead. In the south
hundreds Of collins stand out in the fields,
unprotected, or wrapped with mats, or
standing, without even this poor protec-
ton, in the open. I saw one yesterday, just
beyond the Bubbling Well road, the fash
| ionable Shanghai drive and not far from
| st. Johns College. which the foreign popu-
| lation must pass and repass when they at
| tend service in its beautiful chapel. 1t was
| smeared and streaked with mud. having
been apparently buried and then, for some
| reason, exhumed. The spot from which it
| had been lifted, upon whose verge 1t still
| stood, was half full of water. But for it's
elevation above the driveway the wheels
! of carriages must have grazed the mud
stained box, and there arose from 1t the
unmistakable stencil OF decaying mortal
| ity.
| There are very few rich men In China
| anywhere except among the foreigners or
| the native merchants in the open ports,
| and even they no longer make the fortunes
| they did twenty years ago. Competition
throughout the world; the opening up of
Identical or conflicting industries else
wherein the United States, Ceylon, India,
the increase of duties. and, above all, the
insiduous spread Of the opium traffic, have
combined to diminish or destroy that
| which was once source Of profit both to
| Western investors and to the Chinese
| themselves.
The mandarins, who are looked upon as
| very rich by their fellow-countrymen, we
should consider. in the United States, as
| men of very moderate fortune. 1t is to be
borne in mind in all such estimates that
| one American cent is no inconsiderable
sum to a Chinaman, and that tenth of q
| cent--one cash-is a coin which circulates
enormously, and for which the Chinese car
| buy many things-a little oil, a vegetable
or two, enough rice or millet for several
| generous mouthfuls, straw shoes, straw
brooms, exquisite little toys for children
beautiful little figures nodded out of mud
and painted, even pretty garments, in the
gayest colors. ] once gave a child silver
10-cent piece-equal to cents in our cur
rency, and I shall never forget its amaze
ment nor the delight of it's parents. II
was the merest tritie. but to them 1t was
fifty cash, a gift that was almost munifi
cent. I saw gentleman give the same
sum to a man for holding his horse, anG
| the people at the inn gathered around IL
admiration to look at the bit of silver, the
like of which many of them had never seer
before. This was in one of the northern
provinces. out of the TOURISTS beaten
track; for where they come in contact with
the foreigners in the open ports they are
fast learning the wisdom of mammon.
also saw another incident which illustrate.
the widespread poverty. A man, hurryint
to catch train at a station between Tien
Tsin and Tung-Ku had a quantity of cop
per cash tied up in handkerchief. Per
haps the whole amount may have been
dollar two. AS he ran he stumbled anS
fell, scattering the cash right and left. H,
picked up the bits Of metal with frenzieC
haste, no one interfering, and then whei
he had given as much time as he could t.
it, left it and ran after the train. In al
instant men and boys ran to the spot an,
hurriedly searched among the dust an,
pebbles for any stray coin that the unluck
owner may have failed to find. They strug
gled, and contended, and piled on top o
one another, like excited ants rushing GU
| of an anthill.
The houses of the mandarins, Of whom
have spoken, are exceedingly bare an,
plain, judged by Western standards. Tn
floors are of birch or spruce, and are per
fectly bare: their rugs and mats are sprea,
upon the k'ang-the brick bed-only. TIL
rooms seem very empty, a few carve,
tables, chairs and cabinets, with hanging
Il -sll- N