The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1904-09-15

Treasures Of Great Priee-Gettins
New Ideas About China = Ii Hung
Changes Confusion About Missionary
Claims = A Chinese City Block In
Miniature The Carpenters Shop.
The jewelers. store--The Tea House.
A Rice Store-Home Of a Chinese
centleman--E1at and Shoe Store--The
Umbrella Maker.
! ESPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE BY
MARK BENNITT.l
Mr. Wang unlocked the big glass
door and placed in my hands a peach
blow vase eight inches high valued at
$4,000. My chief sensation was not
one Of admiration, but Of fear that
might drop it. Many better man
than has dropped $4,000. Some have
dropped it in wheat ana some in corn
and cotton. A friend Of mine dropped
his watch in some wheat and found it
again the next spring, but sums of $10,-
600 dropped in grain are not so easily
recovered. l turned the vase over to
see where the value might be secreted.
A delicate nothing was all that could
discover. l was then permitted to re-
turn 1t to the custodian representing
the great Chinese government Then
was handed another vase Of the fa-
nous peachblow make, value $1,000,
and, as If / had not already had hon
ors enough, a third was thrust upon
me, value $4,000. In q space Of five
minutes | examined $4,000 worth of
peachblow vases, three Of the greatest
treasures Of the Chinese government,
the product of lost art In the coloring
Of pottery. The vases are 300 years
old and far more scarce than sums of
$4,000, strange as this may appear to
the inexperienced among US. You, too,
may see them In the Palace of Liberal
Arts, which In this instance Is palace
" lost arts ,r~--~-
enss,- s-.sss 49, .ass;;...
China is an unopened book Of won
ders to most of us. The great Chinese
wall between the empire and other
nations Is the complex language that
produces brain fag and discourage
ment to most Qf those who attempt to
master its intricacies and entangle-
ments. But here are men speaking
the English tongue whose mastery OF
the Chinese is equally facile. Wong
Eai Kah, the imperial vice commits
sioner to the worlds fair, is Harvard
graduate. Francis A. Carl, the other
imperial vice commissioner. IS an Eng
lishman who has been more than
twenty years in China. Mr.. D. Perce-
bols, the secretary Of the commission,
Is a Frenchman who has been thirty
years In China and is intimately IA
miliar with the affairs Of the country.
owing to his high connection with the
customs service Mr.. J. A. Berthet is
another Frenchman who has been TWEEN
ty years Ia the empire and Is here doing
valuable service in dispensing a correct
knowledge Of the Flowery Kingdom.
The catalogue which Mr. Pereeboisa
has just completed Is one Of the most
valuable books on China "a the English
language, for the reason that the ex-
hibit contains something of everything
important to the Chinese, and the book
describes them all
China is our greatest missionary field.
1t is no secret that the Chinese do not
like our missionaries. Their aggressive
ways are Irritating. It was III Hung
Chang who said. ''You send us your
Presbyterians, your Catholics, your
Methodists and Baptists. your Episco-
pallans and others. You all claim one
Christ ret each missionary says his
way is the best Now, which are we
to believer China has her own re
ligion. Why should we adopt another
about which we are 50 much con-
fusedYr
R.t the work goes on from year to
year and decade to decade, and wheth-
Ter worshiping Confucius, Tau or Bud
dha the Chinese are a wonderful peo-
pie, fact proved by the vast exhibit
here in the Palace Of Liberal Arts.
can scarcely name single article for
personal or household use or adorn-
ment not here catalogued l think |
perhaps the Americans have more GIN
cracks. but the Chinese seem to have
overlooked nothing that might meet a
human need. even to their square holed |
money that is worth but ten for one,
but sells here at three for cents.
Let's walk around this miniature city
block. which so graphically shows life
just as 1t IL in China Here IL q carpen
ter's shop, with carpenters in minia-
ture A shrine is at the back. for the
Chinese are pious people and veneer
ate their ancestors, whose virtues are
ever before them. One Of these car
penters is planing a square stick An
otier Is welding an AK, A third is
CHUNG together tie parts Of frame.
The proprietor is talking to d customer.
who IL distinguished by the bright fan
Which be carries reeping through the
latt,ce OF tie upper story we may see
a painter at work upon half painted
window sash Gould any scene Be
more commonplace Yet how interest
ing Ii IS to know that the Chinese are