Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-02-24

in front or sitting on the cross
bar at the foot of the door-posts
are Manshu women easily recog-
nizable by their height, by the width
between their eyes, and the squareness
of their faces. The men are not SO
quickly identified until they talk, when
their hao's and er'sns are as welcome
as old music. Ones delight at being
amongst these people again makes the
poverty to which they have been re-
duced more than pathetic There is
tragedy in the Manchu city in Nam
king, but it is the tragedy in progress
ruin taking place. Walls cape and
roofs are falling and grass is springing
from new creyices. In the centre or
the quarter strong detachment of the
Hsin Chun occupy what was once the
Yamen of the Tartar lieutenant gen.
eral. Sentries with fixed bayonets
stand on guard on either side and
groups of soldiers in the gray uniforms
Which revolution has made so IA
miliar lounge in front. Were one to
return to the Chinese city without see
ing anything more it would be with
very bitter feelings.
East of this Yamen, however. stands
the WI Hsien ssh, temple associated
with the tradition which gives Canton
one of it's Oldest names, the traditions.
namely, of tire five Genii who came
riding into the city on rams carrying
ears of corn I'M token of plentiful har-
vests. The Cantonese built temple
in memory of this event and it was
removed to its present site during the
reign of Huns WI, the first emperor
of the Ming Dynasty. Close to It is
the Confucistn temple. which empha-
sizes the an Gent right OF the Chinese
to this sect ion of Canton. It's single
ting. or hail, stands on wide terraes
at the mort h end of walled enclosure
On either side run echoing corridors
with inches in which wooden memorial
tablets bear names of scholars long
since dead, In the centre of the groun9
are cotton and banyan trees. and al
the seuthe IN end stands stone bridge
with carve marble balustrades, or IS
ed only by scholars entering to take
their degree. Dark red is the prevail
ing color of the enclosure, which, like
Confu eianism itself, is staid, praeti-
cal. placid and severely plain. A walk
through the TIA Shin Chieh, which runs
east and, west through the centre of the
quarter and is the only street where
buying and selling takes place. con-
perts what is left in one of bitterness
into a just recognition of broad facts,
The shops are hardly more than stalls
and lack both the briskness and the
serene patience with which a Chinese
manages to invest even a rickety tres
tie stocked with no more than a hand
full of peanuts. half-a dozen bananas,
and a packet or two of cigarettes. IT
is obvious that the Manehu takes only
half heartedly to trade. handling his
wares with the detachment and dill
dence born of reliance upon pensions.
Into the Manchu quarter the Cantonese
have thrown an invading wave which
will absorb these 5000 or 40e0 aliens as
quietly and irresistibly as the tide COW
ers the sands.
At the present time everything
points, as far as Canton's affairs are
concerned, to a period of settled gov
eminent. Even4were a. Manchu secret
society to become suddenly active
again, and to prove in the end success
full, any help it received from the Man
chus would not save them from their
fate. Whatever mays happen TO them
in North China, in Canton they are
doomed to eXtinction.--From the Man.
chester Guardian.