The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1912-10-18

country. Punishment beyond the
great wall has always been considered
a severe punishment. The Chinese
living there have always had the feel
ing that they were outside of their
own country and almost at the edge Of
the world.
At noon of July IL we stopped at an
inn in little hamlet called Pangshi-
hying, where we rested and had tifin.
The proprietor of the inn evidently
had mind to the moral Improvement
Of his guests, for he had ornamented
the walls of the guests rooms with
numerous notices such as Seek
righteousness as your profit and
riches will never be lacking" "Amiar
bility attracts riches a thousandfold;
with justice you will enter into wide
region of wealth, !" I'm your casual con-
versation do not speak of peoples
failings."
Music Attracts Children.
That evening we stayed at a cara
vansary in little mountain village.
Here we astonished the natives, and
especially the little boys, by playing
a mouth organ. The strains of Poor
Nelly Gray" and Hot Time in the
Old Town" soon drew Small crowd
of half naked urchins, who surveyed
us with wondering eyes. Having got
ten together our little audience, we
proceeded to question them as to
what they had had to eat during the
day, how old they were and whether
they went to school or not. They had
all eaten millet porridge, melons and
various kinds Of vegetables. Meat
was evidently luxury and eaten only
once in a great while.
They all said they had gone to
school, upon which Mr. Peck exam
med them like a schoolmaster and
made them repeat the san zu ching or
trimetrical classic, which is the first
book studied by Chinese children. OF
twelve boys between the ages of five
and twelve only one was unable to re-
peat the san zu ching, and he was
deaf mute. We were astonished to
find that SO many of these children OF
the mountains had been to school. A
similar examination in a mountain
district in America would not have
given better results. These noun
taineers were SO poor that their chill
dren had to run naked in the summer,
but they were, nevertheless, able to
send them to school When the ex-
animation was over we awarded the
boys few pennies each and urged
them to continue to go to school.
Before nightfall the report had
spread throughout the whole town
that some foreigners had come who
made wonderful music and who were
so learned that they could conduct ex-
aminations in Chinese. Many people
came to US asking for foreign medi-
cine. Mothers brought little sick
babies and crippled children to us ask
ing us to cure them They seemed to
have the idea that all foreigners were
skilled in the art of healing. When
we told them that we could not cure
their diseases they did not believe US.
1t was only when we told them that
we had not brought any medicines
that they went away. II made us
sad to think of all the misery that
must be endured unalleyiated in China.
IL brought home to us the fact that
literature alone cannot make a people
enlightened and that without science
| they must endure all the inconveni-
ence and misery of barbarism.
One sees many strange things In
China. At Wangchaiying, where va
stopped for the night on the 18th,
saw a piece of brick tied to donkey
tail to keep 1t from braying. The
| muleteer told me that it was physi-
cal impossibility for donkey to bray
with a weight tied to its tail. l lay
awake a long time that night wait
ing for the donkey to bray. but the
brickbat seemed to do the work. The
| donkey never brayed once.