Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-01-29
CHINESE NEWSPAPER ADS.
The Column of Personal Pnragrapha
Makes Very En raining
Reading.

China does not boast very extensive
native press. There are, in fact, only
! five daily papers published in the YER
nacuar of the Flowery land. Shanghai
and Canton each support two; the re.
naming one is published in Tientsin.
These journals are run on strictly
business lines. They give their readers
a fair quantity of news, and an abund.
ance of personal paragraphs" many
of which are very personal indeed. But
it is the advertisements that form the
leading feature of a native Chinese
daily. Advertisement rates rule cheap,
and thus it comes about that almost
every Celestial patronizes at some time
or other the advertising columns of his
favorite journal. He even airs private
grievances through the medium of the
press, says the London Express.
Here is the concluding portion of an
announcement inserted by Tilted
swain whose lady love eloped with one
Chou Ling:
81 cannot control my wrath and bit
terness. My loved one has, it is plain,
been enticed away by this rascal's de-
ceit. How, | wonder, can a mere tail
or's dummy like this succeed in winning
her? Surely, he has not law or Justice
before his eyes. 1t is on this account
that | am advertising. Should any
kind-hearted gentleman give me infor-
nation of her whereabouts by letter
will reward him with $50; should he
bring her back to her parents | will low
fully give him $40. ] will most certain
ly not eat my words. His kindness and
benevolence for a myriad generations,
to all eternity, shall not be for
gotten"
Another announcement of the agony
column class, written apparently by a
mother to a son who has run away from
home, runs thus:
"lf you delay longer and do not re-
turn | cannot, cannot bear it, and shall
most surely seek an end to my life. and
then you will stand in peril of death
by thunder. lam now at my last gasp.
and the family has suffered from in
suits most grievous. If you come, no
matter how, everything is sure to be
arranged. l have thought of a plan
by which your father may still be kept
in ignorance. My life or death hangs
on the issue of these few days. Only /
pray that all good people everywhere
will spread this message abroad, so that
the right person may hear of il. So will
they lay up for themselves boundless
store of secret merit"
There is not so much of the broken
hearted parent about the following:
MY second son, Huai Po, boy of
tender years and no parts, was edu-
Gated at home in the country, and had
no knowledge of the world. Even when
we came to Shanghai last year he
stayed indoors learning his lessons, and
never left the house until September
26, when he went out to get cool. and
never returned. I ought to say that the
boy was altogether unacquainted with
the customs of Shanghai and the char
acter of the people, and I presume Re
has been decoyed away by rascels for
some bad purpose. The gold Charms
he was wearing and the silver he Lad
about him will not, | am GfI aid, be slsf-
ficient for his necessities. On TIE cen
trary, he will be borrowing money or
doing something of the kind. In that
case | will not hold myself liable.
Should any of my relatives or friends
see him earnestly hope they will COM
mand him to return at once, and so will
they earn my gratitude. But l shall
pay no monetary reward"
China is a happy hunting ground for
quacks. Appended is a translation of
an "ad.' typical of its class:
"Our recipe has come down to us from
a physician of the Ming dynasty. A
certain mandarin was journeying in
the hill country when he saw woman
passing southwark over the mountains
as though flying. In her hand she held
A stick, and she was pursuing an old
fellow of hundred years. The mand-
arin asked: Why do you beat that old
man" She answered.: He is my
grandson, for am 500 years old and he
ia. He will not purify himself by
taking his medicine, and so am beat
ing him The mandarin alighted from
MS horse, and knelt down and did
obeisance to her, saying: Give me, l
pray you, this drug, that l may hand
it down to posterity for the salvation
Of mankind Hence it got its name
Fairy Recipe for Lengthening Life
Take il five days, and the body will feel
light; take it for ten days, and your
spirits will become brisk; for 20 days. |
and the voice will be strong and clear
and the hands and feet supple; for one
year, and white hairs will become black
again, and you move as though flying;
take it constantly, and all troubles will
vanish, and you will pass long life
without growing old. Two dollars per
bottle"
Needless to remark, there is no law
of libel in China. The Celestial pub-
licly heaps abuse on his neighbor, and
the latter retorts to the full extent of
his vocabulary. 1t is delightful sys-
tenn of give-and-take.
To Cross the Ohio.