The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1912-09-20

w OlAN Va AhO SOplSpl huiuAh6 ~ a.
some distance from, his eyes, as
though his glasses, thick as they were,
were not as powerful as his sight re-
CURED.
THE three writings" he went on.
in the tone of classroom lecturer,
evidently form a series, of which, l
take 1t, this is the first"
THE one which says, Take warning
Of what shall happen on the seventh
day'% ! Queried.
Yes That Is the first. The other
of the copies, in which occurs the
phrase once more is, of course, the
second. And the original autograph
is the last"
Exactly" I agreed. 1t seemed to
me that all this was very obvious, but
in courtesy l could not say SO.
IAN three" he continued sagely,
begin, as you must have observed,
with the same sentence, That which
you have wrought shall in turn be
wrought upon YOU That Is quota.
ton"
"a quotatlon!" I exclaimed, in sur
prise.
"a quotation from Mencius, the
great expositor Of Confucius, who
lived b. C. 372 to 2S9. In the origi-
nal. a word meaning Beware pre-
cedes the warning, and more literal
translation Of the passage would be;
'Reware! What proceeds from you
sill return to you again."
II seemed to me this was taking
great deal for granted, | feared that
he professor, like many savants who
specialize, was straining the fact to
1T bis theory, but he very promptly
disabused me.
THE superstition that the words are
paraphrase Of Mencius," he ex-
planned, would not be tenable, per-
haps--the idea Is not anomalous
were it not that we find running
through the series, other quotations
that are unquestionably Of Chinese or
ign. The first letter. for example,
concludes with: The ways Of our God
are many. On the righteous he show
crs blessings; on the evil he pours
forth misery This ia from the Book
Of History, or 'Shu King in which are
the documents edited by Confuclus
himself. 1t usually has been rendered
in this way: The ways of God are
not invariable. On the good doer he
sends down all blessings, and on the
evil doer he sends down all miser-
!es.' That Is the more exact render
Ing. And again, in the second letter
we find" He paused moment, tax.
ing up the second sheet, and focusing
his dim eyes upon the lines. eve
find he went on, "'Fine words ant
q smiling countenance make not vir.
tue which is from the Lunhu, or
'Analects' of Confuclus, in which lHe
views and maxims Of the sage are
retailed by his disciples. Smiling
countenance' Is hardly the best trans
lation. 'Insinuating appearance Is
more nearly the English equivalent
and | should prefer are rarely con
nected, or associated, with virtue tC
make not virtue"
Those, Of course, are Enthusiastically
TRANSACTIONS" | agreed.
"And so are the concluding sen,
fences Of the third, the autograph
letter." he assured me. "'Say moi
Heaven is high abovel Heaven
ascends and descends about our deeds
daily inspecting us, wheresoever We
are. find it in one Of the sacriticial
odes of Kau, and it is the best rem
dered of all the excerpts"
$50 your conclusion as to the au.
thorship is-?" | queried.
Chinese, undoubtedly" he an
swered. These were written, should
say, by Chinaman, educated, prob.
ably, In this country. His English Is
the English Of the educated Oriental,
but the quotations from Confucius and
his commentators are characteristic
With the average Chinaman, to know
Confucius Is to know all; what he
said is all-sufilcient; what he did not
say is not worth saying. Another
Identifying feature is the effort to
make afraid. Their religion is fear"
Having concluded his exposition,
Professor Griffin was disposed to en-
ter upon a more or less lengthy dis
course on Chinese character and lit
erature in general. However llluml-
native this might have been under
ordinary conditions, was assuredly
In no mood to listen to 1t at this time.
The information he had given me,
while 1t merely verified suspicious
which | had held from the first, set
me to specializing on the individual
source Of the letters; and with so
modern an instance at hand was nat.
urally disincllned to consider the au.
thorship of writings dating back often
a thousand years and more beyond
the Christian era.
With what grace | could, therefore,
| discouraged continuance Of the
theme, and having thanked him most
heartily, pocketed the notes with
which he was good enough to furnish
me, and prepared to depart. But as
l stood at his study door, his lean,
scholarly hand resting in mine, he de-
tanned me for a final word.
"The symbol" he exclaimed, bis
male eyes lighting at the recollection