The Holbrook news., 1912-03-01

| n h OME, as In all clVlllZeQ cOun- | tries, forms the very heart | and center of the life of China. Population being so much
 greater there than in any oth-
 CT country, 1t follows that the average
 home must occupy very limited quar- ters. But the natives of China have
 learned to make a real abiding place
 in the smallest possible space. so that
 a single room with mud floor and
 sometimes a low attic overhead, where
 the children sleep, forms the extent
 of great numbers of homes among the
 respectable people of that country.
 In any small village or hamlet in
 central China you will find the one
 or two streets lined on either side
 with long rows of one-storied build
 fngs, with roofs of thatch or tiles.
 There may be a half dozen houses
 under one long roof, but partitions ex-
 tending the whole width of the build
 ing separate them from one another.
 China is full of villages. as the farm
 CTS group their dwellings close togeth-
 CT for safety. A square hole halfway
 up the front wall. covered with light
 paper or else transparent oyster shells,
 answers of a window. This, with the front door, which usually stands open, in pleasant weather, admits the light and air into the abode. The house itself is very poorly constructed, as 1t is made of a single layer of adobe bricks piled up on their thin edges and plastered over on the outside.
 There are very few really substan- tial buildings in the whole of China except an occasional temple But such are the homes where are born and reared large families of children and where parents and grandparents live from one generation to another. Per haps the ancestors of the grandfather have lived in this very spot for hun dreds of yearsi The house may have been torn down and rebuilt many times, but the sacredness of home has never been removed from it. It is very likely, too, that some of these small, one or two roomed abodes have been the birthplaces of some of the renowned men of China It is just here that class distinction. for which OA14d ID AOtC0B AAdhCS a DACoA eA0 does not recognize caste.
 There may be low lean-to at the back of this dwelling, and in it you will see piles of sticks, dried leaves and bundles of cotton stalks. This is the fuel stored up for the winter months and is sufficient to furnish fire | for all the cooking in that large fam fly. Fuel is scarce in China, and | every possible material that cannot | be used for anything else is utilized | for 1t You will learn on this visit | that of all people on the face of the earth the Chinese take the prize for real practical economy. The stove Is made of a few fire bricks so ar ranged with a hole in the top that a large copper pan can be placed direct ly over the fuel, and very close to it 30 that not any of the heat is lost, and the stew, or rice, is almost in- aware the meal Is ready for the table. At the table each one's place is not marked by knives, forks, plates, spoons, and so forth, but there is only ] pair of chop-sticks and small DOT ,elain spoon for each member of the 'amiIy A large dish of steaming stew, n which there are plenty of pieces of pork and different kinds of vegetables. s place in the middle of each of the IQuare tables, for there are usually several of these. according to the lumber of the household. Perhaps iome dried fish is also there, and be- ore the meal is finished each person 8 supplied with a heaping bowl of Iteaming rice. This is held close to he mouth and is literally pushed into t with the chopsticks. All eat with he regularity of clockwork except { low and then a hand is reached out 1 O take . spoonful of the stew or a i libbIe at the dried fish to make the { ice go down better.
 In a corner of the room the visitor Yill see a pile of pigskin-coYered boxes t r trunks, which perhaps reach near ( 7 to the ceiling. In these boxes are f most carefully folded and packed c way all the best clothing as well as C he treasures and heirlooms of the l amily.
 It is in these boxes that all the we'd ing outfit of the bride Is kept All | ho jewels. and whatever of worth or c eauty the family possesses are found OrO; these things are only hrought '