The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-03-31

span--thatch we'll trimmed. walls well
washed mats bright roads In good
repair. piles Of rubbish nowhere to
be seen.
''The Chinese jacket Is fortunate
In opening at the side instead OF at
the front. When thu winter winds OF
Pekin gnaw- ut you with Siberian
teeth you realize how stupid Is our
Western way of cutting notch In
front right down through overcoat,
coat and vest, apparently in order
that the cold may do its worst TO the
tender throat and chest. On seeing
tho sensible Chinaman bring his coat
squAroly across his front and faatsn
II on his shoulder. you feel like N
exposed 0tem-worshiper.
.'In the absence OF good roads and
draft animals the utmost use has been
made OF the countless waterways. and
there are probably as many boats In
China as In all the rest OF tho world.
Nowhere else arc there such clever
river people. nowhere else Is there 80
lavish an application OF man muscle
to water movement. The rivers are
alive with junks propelled by rowers
who occupy the forward deck and
stand as they ply the oar.
Tn the south, population II forced
from the land on to the water, and
myriads pass their lives In sampans
and houseboats In good weather.
these poor families, living as 1t were
in single small room, with a porch
at either end seem as happy as peo-
pie anywhere. There Is no landlord to
grind them down.. no foreman to
speed them up.
Their children little river Arabs.
have their wits sharpened carly, and
mt Frxr Tar, Iva xtxax nt,xytI aA
ed empty jar that by floating will
mark his location In case he tumbles
into the water. The year-old child
knows how to take care OF himself.
The tot OF three or four can handle
the oar or the pole. and In az sharp
as our boys Of six or seven.
The Great Wall in tho north is
undoubtiy the grandest and most i'm.
pressiva ,handiwork Of man. Beside
Its colossal bulk our boosted railway
embankments and tunnels seem the
work nf pygmtcs- Save the pyramids
of Egypt and the Panama Canal. there
IL no prodigy Of toll to be mentioned
In the same breath with It The brick
and stone In every fifty miles OF this
wall would rear pyramid higher
than that OF cheops--and there are at
least 1.70o miles Of It.
AT Nankow Pass the wall Is wide
enough for seven or eight men to
march abreast along Its top. twenty
feet high, faced with hewn stone. bat
tlemented and strengthened every
forty or fifty rods by huge towers ten
yards square inside. II chambers bold
~ up the stepest slopes, creeps Along
the sheer precipices, and springs from
height to height. leaving square
crenelated tower On every crown
ut follows the comb of the noun
tains in order that the ground may
slope from IL both ways. 1t xlEzaES
from crest to crest, dips into ravines
and reappears mounting the range be-
yond. so that 1t In seen in fragments.
the linking parts being hidden In the
defiieS.
For perhaps thirty miles the eye
follows this serpent In stones now
streaking up the slopes. now passing
across the line of vision defined
against the black ofthe mountains be-
yond. now cutting the afternoon sky
with its batticments as il follows some
distant ridge. To the north the noun
tains drop away into foothills, each
crowned with its watch tower. Then
a plain, another range OF mountains
with another wall, and. beyond. the
bleak. wind-swept plateau Of Mon
golia~"