The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-06-26


 go forward to greet the unseen with a cheer. for we know thst our edu- cation does not end here. As Emerson says: Every day of our lives God is educating us, and all experiences of life are equally valuable for the edu- you I would leave as a parting nes- sage these words of Lowell:
 "Be noble, and the .nobleness that lies In all men sleeping and is never dead.
 will. rise in majesty to meet thine And thou wilt never more be sad or lone.''
 Herewith are the essays subpnitted in the, Barnum prize essay contest: CHINA: THE OLD AND, THE NEW
 By Grace Campbell LAins.) k First Prize
 Of all the empires of antiquity. China alone has preserved her eHikt- ence to the present day. Today hers is problem which Is engaging the thought and attention of the whole world. The time has come when China. as nation. must either rise
 
 may take. she is going to exert . worldwide influence upon future his tory and modern civilization. To- day the old Dragon tss Awakening from her constitutional drowkiness and habitual isolation and is ready and eager tc play her part in the
 .chiaa is typical example of ar Seated development" Her great in ventions and discoveries were known as early as the twenty-seventh cen- fnfy B.. C.. her laws and institutions established about t,oco B. C., and her greatest minds like Confucius and then, over two thousand years have elapsed, and China has produced no great men, made no great inventions. and had made no chanes, until a conn pafatively recent date, in her political, social, ethical, or educational Ideals. But now, after two thoueand years. The five thousend years of chIna's history may be divided into three moro, or less distinct per1ods: first Q period Of progress: second. q period of stagnation; third. psrfcd oa
 The period of progress may be cid 2 serfasd with tho Chrietian era. The earliest exiStiuG records deScribe tho Chine6e a0 ssa small body Of sAtfaera dweIlins in tho fertile Tegi0ns cf Fnorthsastefn Chine in the Efeighbor- hood Of the Yellow f6v6r.'' Many but the Chinese. becaMae q their ssi- perl6rity of strength. 9lrvived. They extended their rule over province af- ter province u1it1 finally, by the third century B. e, they had eStAbl1ehed the empire as 1t nov exists Ihen |feudalfSm, which had been the cause of their activity and progress. save built a great wall on the north, reor- buFned rs aif ffis Ss, boois, E hasited q aIl tns weSpofs, and ext efed an the dat- inR scholars. The emperor had come to reign unto eternity: the people and naa sss GSaas sslaisd down 1 to Dssiod of stag = This his period extended from the Chris tfon era to 104O A. ID. Eighteen diff ferent dynasttes followed that emperor who intended to reign forever, And change, but the changes were, only temporary. In summing up the his tory of those two thousand years. we find China no further advanced in arts. ideals. and inetftutions than at the beginning of the Christian era. What were the underlying causes of such intense apathy?
 ture of the surrounding peoples. They were all lower In the, scale Of c1vlli1a- ton than China, and although she subjugated fhems she learned nothing from them. The outcome was the .'exaltation and matntenance by the ing to stagnation and the cessation of e711 -5 5s.s 2 zs~
 Then too. there were three great evils in Chinese civilization which h1n- dered progress; namely, intellectual backWardness. economic poverty, anu political disorganiSatjon. Love thy parents and reverence tne nase,,n..., smpercr. This could be best brought about through ignorance; therefore the en- peror did nothing to promote intelli- eence, but tried rather to enthran the intellect of the people. There was no system of education. so the schoI1f the laborer The family was the unit of Chinese civilizattpn. The chief de- sire ofparents was to surround them selves with children and grandchiI- dren. The result was weak, helpless children born to reDienish the nation to whom life could not but be a.nur- den; ever-expanding families living on ever-contracting purses which could not but impOverish the nation. Trade could not thrive in such an ate mosphere. China became, therefore. populous, feeble. and poor. Because of the, lack of scommunication, the in- habitants of China did not mfngle. Each village had it's own marrow be- liefs and sympathies. it's own dialect, customs. . and institutions, making China a backward, conservative, help
 Finally. after 1s4o, began the third great period of China's history; a per- iod of transformation, of national change. The real cause of this change may be summed up in four great movements: international commerce.. international conflict, the missionary movement, and modern education.
 International commerce, although q slow and indirect influence, has done much to awaken China to her short cofr,ines. Foreign merchants have brought to light the inadequacy of her existing business methods, and arous- ed in her people a desire to learn new methods.
 international conflict has helped greatly ito sting the nation to a sense of it's corporate consciousness" The five wars in which China has been recently involved have brought her to sane thinking and sound judgment.
 The. soul Of the missionary move ment is. of course, v the missionary. Probably his greatest service to China has been in educational lines, although he has also helped to do away with q vIu~ fSr~.. l~aA.