The Holbrook news., 1912-03-01

out on special occasions, for instance
 at weddings or at the New Year.
 time or on other holidays.
 It is remarkable how much these
 people can stow away in the smallest
 space and yet not give the appearance
 of things being crowded This knacE
 of filling up space always seemed tc
 me as a special gift-an inheritance
 from long line of ancestral training;
 else 1t could never nave been so per
 fectly developed as is seen in China.
 In addition to the numbers in the
 family we are talking of, there may
 be seen dogs. cats. and perhaps a fam
 fly hen or two, walking about in the
 same room as unconcernedly as the
 others. Among the very low, a pig
 or two in the house is not an uncom-
 mon sight, but in our visit today the
 members of the swine family are in
 box or kept in a hole just outside
 There may also be a few birds in cages hanging about to cheer the famt ly with their sweet music.
 These homes are anything but neat and comedy. but you will be made vel come when you call, although perhaps the chair upon which you are to sit must be wiped off before you dare occupy 1t
 There will be excuses for the untidi- ness, the woman perhaps saying that they are too poor to keep clean! But you are there either to see how the other half lives or else to carry some message of teaching them how to bet ter their conditions or perhaps to bring cheer to some forlorn heart, so do not see to much, or notice the un- savory odors that float in from every directionI
 Before going to China I had sup posed that it was only the rich and well-to-do families who had their daughters feet cramped, but I soon found that the custom was very gen. eral throughout all of central China In the country as well as in cities, this horrid custom was carried out with nearly all the women.
 In the province of Canton, however, this has never been as general among the poor as in other parts, hence this is why you here see only an occasional woman with bound feet. (Nearly all the Chinese here are from the prov. ince of Canton.) Farther north the custom Is almost universal
 For thousands of years the Chinese have valued education more than any i thing else. Every little hamlet and village all over that great empire has hol Nc has been taught to boys whose par ents have been unable to employe private teachers in the house. The system is not governmental, but schools are subscribed for from pri. vate funds. Very often this provision for schools for those unable to pay for an education has been from purely philanthropic motives In other cases it has been kept up by men of means from religious standpoint. thinking that by so doing they may gain merit in the next stage of existense. At any rate the sons of the poor as well aa of the rich have had more or less of a chance to gain an education.
 The prime idea of study with the Chinese is to make as many of the five senses as possible aid in forming the impression of the name and writ ten character upon the mind of the child The understanding Is a matter of a later period and will develop of itself at the proper time. The eyes zee the proportions and outline of the character, the mouth or voice is I 1sed in repeating it's name, and the i gar hears the voice and so adds it's luota in the brain impression These 1 characters when first taught to chill , iren are always written upon small i squares of paper and are felt and , handled continually while at study. so f hat the brain Is aided by seeing, voic- $ ng, hearing and feeling, all thus help ng the mind to receive it's gift of ma erial which 1t will hold till the intel ect is ready to make use of it
 The little fellow may not for years o come know the meaning of single l haracter he learns to repeat with per [ ect accuracy, but what he has learn T d can never be effaced from his mem Q ry. It Is his possession as long as lie lasts In after years. whom hS egins to read books. and his faculties evelop, these same characters will q argely explain themselves by their b ontext, and the minds of these chil- fl ren will open and expand in . 1ns- s elouB manner. ID