The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1913-04-17


that are unquestionably Of Chinese or.
gin. The first letter, for example.
concludes with: The ways Of our God
are many On tho righteous he show.
ers blessings; on tho evil he pours
forth misery This is from the Book
u History. or 'Shu King. In which are
tho documents edited by Confucius
himself. 1t usually has been rendered
IN this way: The ways Of God are
not !nyar!able. On the good doer he
sends down all blessings, and on the
eyil door no sends down all miser-
les That is the moro exact render.
ng. And again, In tho second letter
SO ind" He paused a moment. TAX.
ing up the second sheet. and focusing
his dim eyes upon the lines. I'VE
ind" he went on, Zine words and
a smiling Couutenance make not ylr.
ne which is from tho Lunhu. or
Aualects Of COnfucIus, in which the
.l"ws and mayims Of the sage are
-rtailcd by his disciples. Smiling
Jun,cuancc' is hardly the best trans
alton. 'lnslnuating appearance Is
more nearly the English equivalent.
md | should prefer are rarely con.
n"ctod, or associated. with virtue to
make not virtue"
Those, OF course, are Enthusiastically
,ranslations." agreed.
And so are the concluding sen.
'oncos OF the third, tho autograph,
letter." he assured me. Say not
Heaven Is high above! Heaven
lsoends and dcsccnds about our deeds,
daily inspecting US, whcresocyer we
are ! find It In one OF the sacrincial
odes OF kau, and it IS the best rem
dercd Of all the excerpts"
So your conclusion as to the au.
,horship is" Quoricd.
Chinese, undoubtedly" he nm.
swercd These were written. should
say, by n Chlnaman, 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
ConlUCius is to know all; what he
said ia allsuiIcicnt; what he did not
say Is not worth saying. Another
identifying feature is the effort to
mako afraid. Their religion is fear"
Having concluded his exposition.
Professor Griffin was disposed to en-.
ter upon moro or less lengthy dis.
course on Chinese character aud III.
eraturc IN general However illumi-
native this might have been under
ordinary conditions, | was assuredly
IN no mood to listen to II at this time.
Tho information he had given me.
while r merely verified suspicious
which ] had held from tho first, set
mo TO Specializing on the individual
source Of tho letters; ana with so
modern an instance at hand / was nat.
urally dislnclncd to consider the au.
thorshlp of writings dating back often
a thousand years and more beyond
the Christian era.
with what grace could therefore,
| discouraged n continuance Of the
theme, and having thanked him most
heartily. pockctcd the notes with
which he was good enough to furnish
me, and prepared to depart But AS
| stood at his study door, his lean,
scholarly hand resting in mine, lie de
tanned me for final word.
Tho symbol" he exclaimed. his
pale eyes lighting at tho recollection
"Wo forget the symbol"
"Oh, yes" | returned, my Interest
revived, that silhouette at the bot.
tom"
1T is Enthusiastically Chinese" he
said. 81 am not very familiar with
the symbolism OF the East, not as IN.
mlliar as ! should be, possibly; but
Chinese writing, you know, in its or.
igin, is picture writing with the add
ton OF limited number Of symbolIcal
and conventional designs. This figure.
/ should say, represents lorcha, or
small Chinese coastlng junk, and you
can rest assured that the threats con.
tanned in the letters were with view
to reparatlon for some crime or injury
connected in some way with such
vessel. That is as near as can In
terpret 1t. But II you would like to
know more--lf you would like to get
something more nearly dchnite-I can
refer you to one who can, think. give
you the information"
by all means" implored. 81 shall
appreciate It greatly"
AN authority on this subject is lIv.
Ing not very far from here. He spent
many years in China, is something OF
an artist himself. and made, under.
stand, a study Of Oriental symbolism.
He lives at Cos Cob. and his name
is"
Murphy" interrupted. as a food
OF illumination swept over me.
"Philetus Murphy. Yes. DO you
know him."
81 have met him." returned short.
ly.
And thanking the professor once
more. hurried away. with a course OF
action already shaping in my mind.
CHAPTER xi.