The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1904-05-19
dignified statesmaneor will he become

vi IL III ilu0 0u0 oj0kNu Oy tuO 6M0A
center of interest and as each files past
le stops for moment and uses all the
means in his power to make the child
,ry, always, however, without touching
linn. Each relation cries, makes faces,
Ihouts, and pretends to strike the
cause Of all this foolishness.
II the child does cry, his life will be Q
'orrowful one; if not, happy one.
The next test is simpler. Three plates
are placed before the infant. One con-
sains many different coins. This rep
resents mercantile life and is held by
some member of the family who fol-
lows that pursuit. The second con-
tains medals, decorations and bright
seals, such as are given to successful
statesmen or used BY them. This
plate is held by some relative who has
some claim to statesmanship. The
third contains flowers, green grass and
bright leaves. This represents the ag-
life and is hsfd by some con-
nection who is tiller of the soil.
Each holder of plate tries his best to
attract the attention Of the youthful
member of the family, until at last
one succeeds in persuading him to take
some article from his plate.
The child's name is now selected
from list prepared beforehand, care
being taken to choose name that will
6t his future position in life. The
next step in the ceremony is also an
important one. It is no other than to
start the queue; that unpleasant re-
minder carried by every Chinaman to
tell him constantly that his emperor Is
a foreigner who can't speak Chinese!
(The reigning dynasty in China is the
Fsing dynasty, formerly rulers over
Manchuria. They were established in
China upon the fall of the old Chinese
or Ming dynasty in 1913, and intro
duced the Manchurian queue as the
national headdress of China.) The
hair upon the youngsters head is COM
pletely shaved off and very tight
skull cap is fitted oyer his bare crown.
This cap has an opening in the top and
under this opening the hair is allowed
to grow. So starts the Chinaman's
queue.
The young Chink has now received
his second christening. He will be
given yet another name when he mar
ries. This last name is the family
name, which he receives from his fa-
ther. (The former Chinese minister to
this country received the name of WI
upon his marriage. Previous to that
he was known as Ting Fang. In China
the family name is placed before the
given name, therefore he became Wu
Ting FANCY
When daughter is born in a Chi
nese family there are no such ceremon-
les. The young lady receives name
chosen for its fanciful meaning, but
there is no great feast, for it is consid-
cred something of'a disgrace in China
to raise family of girls. If the child
is fortunate enough to be the daughter
of rich parents, her feet are closely
bound in order to keep them small
This custom is to, show that the young
miss need never labor. After this or
deal is past there is nothing for the
young Chinese girl to do save live and
grow old enough to be married.
i One or two of the marriage ceremo
nies are peculiar, but I think the
strangest institutions of all are the
Chinese divorce laws. Yes, they have
them there and it is just as easy tx
obtain s.legal separation" in Pekin al
i in Sioux Falls. In fact, the Chinese
divorce laws have been in use Iongel
than any other similar laws. The.
were written by the great Chinese phi
Iosopher, Confucius. One Of them pro
vides that wifeNwho talks too mucl
may be divorced, and very good Law
a it is, tool Another allows a HUSBAND
to divorce wife who is continuall
! running about and not paying prope
attention to her household. Oh, tina
!, Confucius was wise old Chinkl H
certainly had the ladies down pal
) The mother-in-law joke doesn't bottle
|. the Chinaman, for he is thoughtful