The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1913-02-15


lgin. The first letter. for example.
concludes with: The ways Of our God
are many. On the righteous he show
ers blessings; on the evil he pours
forth misery This is from the Book
u History. or 'Shu King. in which are
the documents edited by Confucius
himself 1t usually has been rendered
in this way: The ways OF God are
not invariable. On the good doer ne
sends down all blessings. and on the
evil doer he sends down all miser-
les. That Is the more exact render
Ing. And again. in the second letter
We flnd--" He paused a moment, TAX
ing up the second sheet. and focusing
mis- dim eyes upon the lines. We
ind" he went on, Fine words and
smiling countenance make not vir.
ne. which is from the Lunhu, or
Analects' OF Confucius. In which the
Fiews and maxims Of the sage are
-etailed by his disciples. Smiling
ountenance' is hardly the best trans
alton. lnsinuating appearance Is
more nearly the English equivalent.
md ! should prefer are rarely con
lected. or associated. with virtue to
make not virtue"
Those, OF course, are Enthusiastically
translations." | agreed.
And SO are the concluding sen
tences OF the third. the autograph.
letter." he assured me. Say not
Heaven is high above. Heaven
ascends and descends about our deeds,
daily inspecting us, wheresoeyer we
are l find 1t in one OF the sacrifcial
odes of kau. and 1t is the best rem
dered of all the excerpts"
so your conclusion as to the au-
thorship is" | queried.
Chinese undoubtedly" he an
swered. These were written. l should
say, by a Chinaman, 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
Confucius is to know all; what he
said is all-suf!icient; what he did not
say is not worth saying. Another
identifying feature is the effort to
make afraid. Their religion is fear"
Having concluded his exposition.
Professor Griffin was disposed to en-
ter upon a more or less lengthy dis
course on Chinese character and lit
erature in general However illumi-
native this might have been under
ordinary conditions, | was assuredly
in no mood to listen to 1t at this time.
The information he had given me,
while 1t merely verified suspicious
which | had held from the first, set
me to speculating on the individual
source Of the letters; and with so
modern an instance at hand was nat
urally disinclined TO consider the au-
thorship of writings dating back often
a thousand years and more beyond
the Christian era.
With what grace l could therefore,
l discouraged a continuance OF the
theme, and having thanked him most
heartily. pocketed 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, he de
tanned me for a final word.
The symbol" he exclaimed, his
pale eyes lighting at the recollection.
we forget the symbol"
"Oh, yes" l returned. my interest
revived. that silhouette at the bot
tom"
1T is unmistakably Chinese" he
said. Il am not very familiar with
the symbolism of the East, not as ia
miliar as l should be, possibly; but
Chinese writing. you know. in its or
igin, is picture writing With the addi-
ton of limited number OF symbolical
and conventional designs. This figure.
should say, represents a lorcha, or
small Chinese coasting junk. and you
can rest assured that the threats con-
tanned in the letters were with a view
to reparation for some crime or injury
connected in some way with such a
vessel That is as near as l can in
terpret It. But II you would like to
know more-if you would like to get
something more nearly defnite-I can
refer you to one who can, | think, give
you the information
by all means" implored. Il shall
appreciate 1t 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, l under
stand, a study Of Oriental symbolism.
He lives at Cos Cob. and his name
is"
Murphy" l interrupted. as a food
of illumination swept over me.
"Philetus Murphy. Yes. Do you
know him."
Il have met him." returned short
ly.
And thanking the professor once
more. | hurried away, with course OF
| action already shaping in my mind.
CHAPTER xl.