The St. Louis Republic., 1902-02-23

Lake. which is connected with the Grand
canal by a marble bridge with hfty-three
arches. This is one Of the finest bridges
in China. 1t is very long and its arches
are as perfectly made though cut with
scuptorS chisel. ] sailed by this bridge
on way To the city.
Soochow has many pagodas and II is also
celebrated literary center. one group
Of pagodaS has queer story connected
with It. which shows the superstition of the
chinese. Originally the group contained
but two pagcdas with Il p1oi IT water near
them. Not far away tho Examination
Hall. Shortly after the pagodas We're built
il was noticed that the students from 500
chow always failed IN their examinations
when they w-nt to Picking. The necroman-
GERS were asned to determine the cause.
They found it IN the pagndas. Said they:
You have here the water" pointing to
the pond; 'ycu have also the ink brushes"
pointing to the paEodas; but you have no
ink pot ink block How can your schoi-
ars write essays with only the brushes and
water,
All" said the chinese. we will fix that"
And so they built a third paScda IL plain
black the shape Of a Chinese ink pot. This
changed the fortunes of the scholars i'm
mediateIy. and SouChow since then has be-
come the athens of china
II took us a long time to get around tho
walls of Socchow into the city. Soochow
has at least twelve miles OF wall about IL
Hundreds of Thousands of
Dollars Spent in Repairs.
The wall Is as high as Il three-story house
and as wide the ordinary country road.
1t is to-day almost as perfect when II
was built, and there are parts OF II which
have been recently repaired. Other parts
are being torn down and rebuilt The Chi
ncse have walls about all their cities and il
n new city were built to-day II would have a
wall about 1t. Not long ago some hundreds
of thousands OF dollars were spent in re-
pairing the wall of Nanking: and l suppose
that one Of the first appropriations made
by the Government after they have ar
ranged for the interest on the foreign debt
brought about by the late war, will be to
repair the walls of Pekin.
Sooclow fills the most of the space within
this wall. and in places the city has gone
outside. All along the banks Of the canal
under the wall are beggar huts, sheds CT
straw In which live people more ragged and
filthy perhaps that any beggars Of the
world. Many of them go about in boats anu
whine fer aims while they thrust out at
you long poles to which are attached little
baskets or bags in which you are expected
to put your gifts.
In Hangehow the other day l went
through the biggest drug store Of China
and one which Consul General Goodnow
says is the largest drug store of the world.
1t covers n vast area and Is made up OK
many rooms in which Chinese clerks are
selling drugs Of all kinds and packing REM
edes for all sorts Of Chinese ailments. The
store was filled with purchasers. wholesale
and retail: and the talk was so noisy that
it made me think Of the Stock Exchange In
Wall street during a panic.
In the factory 1 found them grinding
root. and bones to powder for pills. The
limo rxoS in, willie
one on top of the other. and fed through
a hole in the top stone The motive power
of each mill was half-naked man. per-
fectiy blind. who pushed round q pole at
tached TO the top stone like horse IN the
bark mill Of a tannery. I asked why blind
men were employed and was informed that
1t is for two very good reasons. One .
that 1t is considered charitable to give blind
men work. and another IL because 1t In
cheap.
Leaving the grinding I went into another
department where ecores of men were
molding pills and putting them away in
stone jars. Adjoining this room was an
other which might be called a pill ware
house. 1t contained an enormous num-
her Of stone Jars. each holding about fifty
gallons Of pills. There were enough pills
here to physic all China. The Jars were
arranged in sections. They had different
labels upon them, although those on one
he same characters as those on the other.
asked the men how the pills were graded.
lie said that they were packed up accord
ng to the diseases for which they were
Intended and also according as they were
or women or men. Each sex must have
IS own, whether they be for the head
Iche. the collie or whatnot.
A curious department Of the store was
nenagerie. This was little geological gar
len containing animals which were fe be
round up into medicine. There were about
wenty deer. ranging from fawns Just. born
o Old stays with great antlers. Deerhorns
ire supposed to have great medicinal prop
rites. and these deer are kept for their
lorns. which are cut OFF and ground up for
Medicine. Great quantities Of deerhorns are
imported. This is also true of tiger bones
nd especially of tiger whiskers Pills made
+ these things are worth their Weight in
old. FRANK G. CARPENTERc
oTyrieht. 1902. by Frank C. Carpenter -.