The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-06-19

IAfDAA kAlE SlOuAlu. AAE AA4NAAAgEAo DA the family gather around the dishes in the center. and provided with a pair of chop sticks. start in to help them selves. No napkins, spoons, knives or forks are used. Indeed, although the Chinaman has seen these necessary adjuncts of Europeans table, he does not care to use them. He has an aversion for them. Once when I was travelling from Kucheng to the coast I stopped at native inn and when my luncheon was brought in to me
 brought out my knife, fork and spoon, which it was necessary to carry about with one. When the natives saw them and learned to what use I was putting them they exclaimed in hor- TOT, See the foreign devil eating with things she might kill people with!' The better classes of Chinese eat three meals day, but the poverty-stricken coolie often has to be satisfied with but one, for his average pay amounts to but 10 cents a day.
 ''The various living and sleeping rooms of the family are located about the court on both sides and in the rear, and passageways connect with apartments that have been built in the rear of the original, building. These rooms usually are utterly void of any furnishing or decorations. There Is no paper on the walls, no pictures nor bric-a-brae other than the ancestral tables and a few idols. There is no carpet on the floor or any mating, and of course no chairs or beds. An apology for the latter is afforded by a bamboo mating stretched in one cor ner of the room. The majority of the inhabitants of Kucheng are farmers. Trey have small farms on the out skirts of the town beyond the walls, and some of these farms are models. You know, the Chinese are the finest gardeners in the world. At night, however. all of the, stock and farm utencils, such as they use, are taken into town. Chinese farmers never live by themselves on their holdings, by always within the walls of a town. Kucheng has about 5000 kitchens, or 50,OO0 people.
 There are three classes of officials who govern Kucheng, as is the case, too, with every. other city in the em- pire--the literary official, who has charge of the district examinations; the military official, who is at the head of about 5000 soldiers, and the civil official. who has charge of the civil and judicial administration of the city. The literary official comes first in the esteem of the inhabitants, for the Chi ,,ncn bava o frr3i1y ,,nntad ca,,+ i,,,ant of admiration for the man of letters. The ambition of every person who in any way is capable of being ambitious, is to become man of letters, first be- cause it raises him in the esteem of his fellow-men; second, because it is 8 necessary qualification for entrance
 into the official class; and, third, be- cause he will be exempted from the payment of certain. taxes. .gs
 Examinations are held at specified times and last for three days. The applicants are ;ushered into numerous stalls, where they remain during the tEree days and work upon an essay, the merits of which is judged mainly from it's style. Several thousands of ten take the same Examination. It is strictly competitive, and only small per cent, possibly 10 per cent, can be successful at one time. There is no restriction, however, upon the number
 of times an unsuccessful candidate . may try to pass, and as a consequence some poor fellows spend the greater part of their lives taking exaniinations commencing in early youth and trying I over and over again until they are gray-haired. Often fathers and sons, even grandfathers, will take the same | examination. This system has been l in vogue for hundreds of yehrs. and latterly modern ideas have been in- ] iected into 1t. so that III many elties 1 it embraces not only a literary test, but also tests in other departments of learning. -. The language Is very difficult to acquire. It was only after several years of sojourn in China that I ss-
 cured an adequate working knowledge
 of it. The chief difficulty arises from | the fact that the Europeans ear is not | sensitive enough to detect the various tonal qualities of Chinese words. There | are eight tones in the language, and ! almost every word Is pronounced in | eight different ways which gives to
 one monosyllable eight different
 meanings. As ain instance, the lnono- l syllable 'sang,' when chanted in a
 high pitch means clear; when uttered
 in low tone means umbrella; when
 enunciated with a rising infection on
 the latter part of the word means
 surname; when pronounced with a
 half-tone rise on the long a sound
 means hush; when spoken quickly with a fall of whole note toward the
 end means to scatter, and when a
 fall of a note is made upon the long
 "a sound means coat Added to
 these subtle changes in pronunciation
 is an occasional suffix ending in h or ! k which further modifies and changes
 the meaning. g.'-Chicago Chronicle.