The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-02-14

Men at their birth are by nature rad
ically good"
Boom, BOOM"
"Men at their birth
"B-r-r-r-r clang!"
Firecrackers, bombs and temple gongs,
Little Foo Ling, his back turned 10 the
teacher, swinging his thick-padded felt
shoes under the bench, recited his lesson
with impatience.
For it was the last day of the old year.
Even above the clamor of the schoolboys
as they shouted aloud the names of the
five cardinal virtues or the six varieties of
grain, could be head from the distant Tao
temple, the crash of cymbals and the deep
reverberations of bronze gongs.
And even now the noise of frecrackers
came from the busy streets outside. pre-
liminary to the celebration of the Chinese
New Year that would open on the night
of the new moon.
1t was in Canton. China, only a year ago
In every shop along the street of Celestial
Happiness swanpans (counting-frames) We're
clicking merrily. Debts must be paid be-
fore night, money borrowed, new clothes
purchased and supplies laid in.
The staggering coolies swept along the
hACh III q OSASNACS NoN OAo
shut men were telling fortunes on the cor
ners. Knots OF chairmen, porters, peddlers
and merchants gathered around the char
latans with the trained birds. watching
with breathless interest the grains of rice
that either for good luck or bad, the birds
pecked up upon the payment of a cash.
The lantern peddlers with the strings of
grotesque lanterns swinging from their
bamboo Jokes were out in force.
The afternoon wore on but drearily for
poor Foo Ling.
MEN at their birth are-are-'.
"Thwack!" the rattan rod descended on
his head.
But finally school was dismissed, and
with a wild cry little Foo Ling in his peach
blow jacket, with his long queue streaming
after him, ran down the crowded street,
managed TO stumble over a blind beggar
and upset his cup of cash upon the flags.
For there wds so much to be done. The
house was being swept and decorated when
he reached home, and the servants were too
busy to reply TO his excited questions.
The shrines of the household gods were
ornamented with old porcelain and China
dishes, and vases full of fragrant gourds
and citron. The narcissus flowers that put
out their white blossoms just at New Years
time were sprouting from their bulbs among
the pebbles.
Some of the presents mad arrived already
and the servants who had brought them
had returned rewarded. Everything had
been accepted. There were sweatmeats,
boxes of tea, tangerines, exquisite silks
and ~lacquered ware.
The red cards of congratulation, too, had
been received. And little Foo Ling looked
with joy upon the woodcut that illustrated
the three felicitus. He recognized the
figure of the child; that of the Mandarin;
that of the old man and the stork. Inter-
preted they read: Il wish your offspring
official preferment and green old age"
Foo Ling himself hung out the new men
shut (the door spirits) before the door.
These were the colored pictures of the two
most formidable generals who had guarded
the imperial palace gates and kept the
spirits away until they died-oh. ever so
many years ago-and their positions were
filled by their portraits, which succeeded in