Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1905-01-26

he person. five plants, colors, WIS.,
sera and other things. and from all,
puttingonamost sanctimonious look, 1
sducesasentenee which requires the |
required answer. The poor China
nan thinks the answer is true, pays
his fee, and goes happily on his way. |
he ever returns 70 see the |
so called fortune teller Is more than |
| can say. Such is the ignorant,
superstitious, fanatical and bigoted
opinion the Chinese have OF things.
Try 20 tell Chinaman bis Joss IS
no good, or his country is the same,
and he will bring all his brilliant
flow of Chinese epitaphs upon you;
invoke his numerous losses tocurse
you 10 everlasting bad luck. The
Chinese have a firm opinion that the
Emperor is the vice gerent of God
on earth and that one day China
will rule the world.
CHINESE CosMoG0SY.
The Chinese have queer ideas Of
how the universe was made. Like
Hesiod and the Greeks, no creator
Is known like Brahm, lives ia
space, but the first being, Pawnku,
had the herculean task to mold the
chaos which produced him a chisel
ont OF the earth which was 10 con-
tain him. The word Pawn signifies
(basin). and Eu (solid). He is pict-
ured with q chisel and mallet in
hand shaping vast masses of rock
floating in space. Behind the open
ings he has made appear the sun,
moon and stars; at his right hand,
the companions Of bis tolls. stand the
dragon, the phoenix, the turtle aud
the unicorn. His work proceeded
for $1,000 years. BY degrees he
and his work increased, the heavens
rose, the earth spread out and Pawn
ku grew in stature six feet every
day until his work was done. Then
be died for the benefit of his handi-
work. His head became mountains,
his breath wind and clouds, his
voice thunder, his limbs into poles,
bis veins the rivers, his sinews into
the fluctuations of the earth s sur
face, his flesh into fields, his beard
into stars, his skin and hair into
herbs and trees, his teeth, bones
and marrow into rocks, metals and
precious stones, his dropping sweat
into rain, and lastly, the insects
which stuck to his body. into the
people who populate the earth. Such
is the fantastic and egotistic belief
of the Celestial. This mythical creed
is far different from the pleasing i'm
ages of the Egyptian symbols. They
fatigue without entertaining the read
er, and only prove the weak mind CT
the imaginer of such a creed.
BURIAL.
Before.a burial lucky spot is to
be found, IL family have moved
away from its paternal sepulchre.
The body is put in the coffin soon
after death, always dressed in the
best they can afford; a fan put in
one hand and prayer in the other.
The coffin is shaped like tree trunk.
Boards, about three inches thick,
on the top, making strong case.
The body is laid on a bed of lime or
cotton and covered with mortar so
no obnoxious odor can escape,
sometimes the coffin is vanished.
In many cases Chinese spend large
sums of money before they die, just
to get fine coffin: Bodies some
times are kept in houses many
years and incenseis burned night and
mornings. The eldest son goes to
an adjoining river or well with a
bowl, accompanied by two relatives,
to buy water, which is done by
throwing the money into the river
or well. Upon the way to the river
a lantern is carried lighted, in day
or night, and the bearer makes an
awful narrowing wall continually.
The day of the interment, an Offer
ing OF cooked victuals is laid near
the coffin. The mourners kneel be-
fore it and knock their heads upon
the ground going through the whole
Kotow.
Representative George A. Pearre- of