The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-11-22
pby. Thus does ono become a

| SCTuple, may Iedu anywhere Lie out
great thing is to learn to write; to write
| well. Originality in composition is
sin against good taste: it is irreverence
toward the past and not to be tolerated,
for all that Is to be said has been said
long ago-said by some ones ancestor,
and on that account to be held In honor
az beyond Improvement. The triumph
Of Chinese education is to take any
theme at random and show the agility
of the intelligence in dissecting out the
subtle thread by which 1t may be tied
to some one Of the classical maxims.
Having once established the reasoning
power on this tenuous base all that re-
mains Is to write the couplet In the best
possible penmanship and accept the
prize of scholarship.
China Is filled with schools devoted to
education Of this conservative sort. In
the poorest villages the ear OF the trav-
eller Is deafened by the sound OF the
schools where the boys are shrleking
their lessons before their master. backs
turned conveniently for receipt OF the
educational ferule. To read and to write
10 a passion: in land OF the utmost
poverty no sacrifice Ia considered too
great for the acquisition of an educa-
ton: years are spent in preparation for
the official examinations. and aged men
may be found in the booths trying to
pass the rigid tests by which they may
be admitted to the learned class.
Filled with schools and avid for learn
Ing China never Is more than half edu-
Gated; half of tte population is cut of
from letters, there 10 no teaching for
girls. That means that in every grade
OF Chinese society there is a depth of
ignorance in the home. The women are
taught the domestic arts according 10
the position Of their parents: they may
undergo a fitting for the hardy life Of
the sampan girls, they may spend year.
OF agony in acquiring the lily feet &C
that they may become the pets OF
luxury. But they are densely ignorant
they can never hope TO become the COM
: panions OF their mankind.
1t Ia an Oriental idea that women
; have no souls. They may be the slaves
: Of men, they may be the pets OF men
: 1t Is all the chance of life. But having
; no souls. having no Independent exist
, ence, they prove themselves soulless. In
, poverty they become brutalized, in pros.
per.ty they are hidden from the public
: gaze In poverty there is always som.
}, man to keep them within bounds WITH
/ club or fist; In prosperity the master OF
\ the house is filed with other concern.
and is too busy to keep tho women ir
$ order. a task which the Orient generally
: has entrusted 20 those who are not met
e nor yet women. Kept to themselves
robbed OF every exit into the realm o.
. thought which might ameliorate the In
I expressible tedium of being women, 1
n is little wonder that the women of Chin;
develop all the baser traits Of their dis
position, they learn TO wheedlo ana Il
scratch. Condemned to the society o
these women whose only leaning toward
good behavior lies in the blows which
. may be given, petted and equally de
: spised by the women over whose caper
= they must keep watch the guardian
II show that they have lost their mora
= strength Of manhood and become con
spirators against good. They have tn
. lust for power treacherously exercised
all that remains to them is the amass
'. ing of treasure The intrigue OF An,
y. court Is bad enough; intrigue with tn
= addition Of such an element as thi
). must destroy the most solidly founde
- OF dynasties.
Against this class Of the guardians O
:, tho palace women the wise men Of an
% Client China have left warning maxim,
;, II was a dynastic regulation OF tn
:, Ming dynasty never to permit these do
!. mestics OF the court 20 obtain any hol
= upon the affairs OF state. When tn
!, Son OF Heaven allowed himself TO for
" get the wisdom Of the ages and 70 mes
lect the rule of his own house. whe
the last Of the Ming Emperors dsll!e
!. in his women's houses and took counss
>. OF their attendants, then It was that TN
I.tn VII 90 A..
= him from the throne.
The Manchus were indeed a sturd
" folk and they were Allied with the virtu
=, OF China They established stron
" empire. they reestablished the ancier
strength of the Middle Kingdom whic
believed that 70 II all the world WI
tributary. They had their glorious day
., OF rule. they We're welcomed in the Oh
. nese heart which endures uncomplaiI
~ ingly through all the changes Of go,
y eminent within the forbidden city q
-" admirable race.
=, II has seemed from the view OF y
a., Occident that It was the contact wit
.. new civilizations which led to the owe,
w throw of the Manchus when their tin
had come. Our history books point
- the coming OF the missionaries of a ne
~ faith. TO the several attacks which y
~ West has delivered upon China to 8,
CT cure It's selfish aims, to the stirring u
OF the rebellion Of the Taip!ngs. to Il
Boxer recrudescence OF old faith an ne
M superstition. But mono OF these thins
~ Ia new in Chinese experience; the nam,
~, vary and tho prstsxts differ. but CHR
so has grown old In bearing Just this so
D. OF thing. Internal oommotion has be,
" endured ana slowly stilled- in all q
r. m!llsnniums the Middle Kingdom h,
'e' endured the invasion OF foreign hord
- and has absorbed external civiiixatic
TO- by n0n-resistance. But all at once IN
H. Manchu dynasty goes down at tin
m. when foreign aggression was inactiv
40 when China had made a fair beginnir
I'm toward adjusting itself to tho new oo
" ditions Of Occidental Interference in 1
CO affairs. II takes no moro than a pr
MI to blow down the house of cards, b
ne here was no pun and the house Whit
10 crashed down seemed firmly founded
We find the better explanation III
nished by these authors They revie
the career Of the wonderful and unscr
les pulous woman, the Old Buddha. tn
re show how as Empress Dowsger a
n made and unmade puppet emperors. tn