New-York tribune., 1905-10-26
Fresh Light on Old Facts By a
Chaplain IN China.

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JOHN cINAN s At HONE r ME. Sketches @ he's qt R. MeR
Hardy NJ. A. Chaplain to II. B. NJ. Forces.
with e illustrations. svo. pp. SS5 Charles
scrJbners Sons
rs. euthor Of How To Be Happy Though
.,.r-,ed" seems to have solved also the prob
-, Of how TO be happy though In China; for
..-+s,nIv no one could have gone about as much
,a did interesting himself in the manners
-. customs of the people, and have produced
.h A.. mass of impressions, observations and
.osotes as are contained in his book without
..c-ourhly enjoying himself. Like other happy
,eonJe he has the faculty of passing along his
,5.ssurable experiences to others. and the re-
-Y. Z. @ thoroughly good volume It is not that
;. tolls us much that is new about the
cbtne.e that he has made any deep or original
..ea-ehes into the history OF the country or
,..xe..d much time to studying out the meaning
end origin Of the habits, laws and traditions Of
-rs neople. There Is in fact, little in the book
,h.+ has not already found its way into print.
., one form or another The charm of Mr.
1-s-5vs volume lies in the freshness of his
treatment and in the agreeable vivacity of his
.,aa Even when he dilates upon some per
s+1v familiar trait or relates some overrfpe
.,,a..nut" he does so with such a suggestion
., novelty and with such keenness of apprecla-
.;o- that the reader cheerfuliy acknowledges
himself happy though bored
rhe-a is no particular plan in the book. save
.x the author has grouped his impressions. not
TN slavishIy under such general heads as Up
IN. Yangtse'' Chinese Food. Houses ana
r.,s.,s'' Death and Burial" etc. and no par
.,c1,lar purpose except TO describe the every
tsv Celestial things that interested and puz-
,Is5 me when I first came out. 1t Is q
book for unIearned visitors to China, The
.h,ne that most impressed him, as it has i'm
,-.ss.a other travellers and students. is the
enormous latent power Of the Chinese, as oini-
nous as the dark. Oily surface of the ocean pe-
Fore 4 ternptest-safe for the mariner whiie the
RAIN continues, but full Of suggestion or 1he
,,oIenc. of the approaching hurricane one par
.Ic,lsrIv interesting feature of the book Is the
author. ouickness to detect the identity or
similarity Of many Chinese customs with those
=, another Oriental nation-the Jews; and he
.-.ou.ntfv pauses to illustrate some passage
IN -hs Bible by means of something that he mas
,,served which is commonly supposed to De
-s-,,lie- 10 Cathay He writes generally, how
evsr with an abundant and often subtle sense
.f hunor that is occasionally exenphneo III
his readiness TO find analogies in the not SO lar
distant history of his own country for many Oh
IN. Inconsistencies and barbarities that We pro-
ses. ourselves unable to comprehend in the chi
nese character and practice
Noticing that 10 raise water nom a river OF
..,s1 "a ;rrigate their rice fields the Chinese
usa an endless chain which moves a nufnoer oL
buc,,ets and i. worked tVeadmill style by the
feat of coolies, the author is reminded Of the
Biblical saying: THOU shalt water the ground
-i.b rhv foot" The guest room OF g. grand
bouse he observes has only three walls, the
whole front opening upon the court, which any
one Is free to enter. "Lt was. he says tniS
Eastern arrangement which enabled the woman
who was sinner and the others TO approach
the Lord Jesus Christ as He sat at meat
a desire to exclude strangers, he explains
would be held to argue that there was some
thing wrong going on which the owner Wlsheh
IN conceal It is considered compliment to
be watched and stared at. no matter what one
may be doing, and what we would call intrusive
curiosity in regard to our private affairs Is
th.r. esteemed the most courteous attention
and TO betoke,l a friendly soIictude Abiding
10 the general absence OF artificial means for
heating their rooms in winter, the autnor
states that in the North of China, however.
whole families sleep together during the cold
weather On 4 heated platform called q 'kang."
The warmth of this kang." he adds. ''is said
TO comfort like a mother but II must be as ir-
ritating as a stepmotf1er also, for il nearly al
ways contains a multitude Of tiny monsters to
which the Chinese are too much accustomed to
complain
While the author delights to pick out the
points OF difference between the Chinese and
ourselves he finds that we have one problem, at
least in common-the servant question-and
that II is as old as Confucius himself, who said:
of all people, girls and servants are the most
difficult to behave to. II you are familiar to
them, they lose their humility; If you maintain
your reserve they discontented. Mr..
Hardy indeed, finds the service excellent, but
with one exception:
If said that knew Chinese servant who
practised the fine art of telling the truth, readers
who have lived in China would think l was poor
artist in this line myself We liars ourselves,
cause they lie from different motives. Their mem
tacity shocks us because it is not the same klnd
as
We think II Is absurd for the Chinese to place
things to eat on the graves Of the dead. An
Englishman asked Chinaman how his deceased
relative could eat the food offered to him. He
replied He can eat it easily as a kinsman
Of yours can smell the flowers you put on his
grave" Many Chinese customs when analyzed
indeed are seen to be more sensible than those
Of other and supposedly more enlightened ma
tons. Thus there are in China twenty-six de-
grees Of hereditary nobility, and title loses
one degree of nobility with each step of descent
In this way remarks the sturdy Brltlsher'
wise fathers are prevented from ennoblins
fools forever" When the author visited the
barracks of the foreign drilled troops at Han
kow he saw on the walls Of the schooiroom
many maps and portraits of the worlds great
men, but by a peculiar irony, the only English
man thus honored Ruskin- These soldiers