The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1915-05-06
INTERESTING SIDE
LIGHTS ON CHINA
An Interesting Description
Of Things Chinese
A Brief And Interesting Description Of
The Quaint Philosophy, Customs, Mat
rimoniaI Relations, Economic Life and
Agriculture of the Chinese.
Chautauqua Paper by Il. c..

In most every instance where q
story or paper has been written
about country and the people that
inhabit it, the writer has invariably
used the rich man. his palaces and
fine lands for his subject. In this
paper am giving the story from
the path of tradition, and use the
working man as my subject. And in
using the subject, / wish to show
just the conditions that exist in that
big country where the great Drag.
on, in it's fixed yellow, floats over
more than four-hundred million
people: China"
am going to try to describe his
daily life. his home, the working
conditions, his death. and what life
and death means to him.
We land at Taku on the coast of
the Yellow Sea, and the mouth of
the Pei-ho River. The town is small
and extends to the beach of the Yel-
low Sea, and the banks of the Pei
hO river. The houses are of one
story and built of mud and straw.
The streets, if you could call them
such, are so narrow that two people
walking on opposite sides, can near
ly touch hands by extending their
arms. There does not seem to be
any sanitary system, as the streets
are strewn with rubbish. AS this is
our first sight of China, our estima-
ton of the country falls about ninty
nine percent. In doorway we no.
tice two timid, frightened children
peeping out at us. In their dress
they seem odd, and especially the
girl with her pantaloons and small
odd shaped feet. We see no women.
AS we pass on through the town
we come to a street corner where a
man Is cooking grasshoppers in a
big iron kettle half filled with some
kind of grass. These he sells in small
packages done up in some kind of
big green leaves. The grasshopper is
considered delicacy by all classes.
We cross the Pei-ho river-it
should be named Stink river--the
water is muddy, and in fact, looks
as though some one had dumped
several barrels of black ink into it.
We are now on the outskirts of the
town, before us is great expanse
of open country. We notice large
fields under cultivation, and here
and there are farmsteads. The soil
is black loan and seems to be very
rich and fertile.
We travel north along the Pei-ho
river. In our party are number of
coolies, and they tell us that all the
rich land along the valley is owned
by rich Europeans, and that all that
the Chinese get out of it is the wage
paid them for their work. We have
come to farm house with a num-
Der of out-buildings. The farm has
Chinese Overseer, who looks after
the work. In the farmyard there
are focks of chickens, ducks and
geese; in a nearby field is large
herd of hogs. There is an apple
and peach orchard; another field is
planted with watermelons and
muskmelons. little ways off are
fields of wheat and rice. There is
no other stock on the farm, such as
COWS and horses. As we pass along
we come to Chinaman pushing a
huge wheelbarrow; across his shoul-
ders. and fastened to each of the
handles. is broad strap. This strap
helps him to hold up the load. On
the wheelbarrow is crate of chick
ems and ducks, two sacks of grain.
and two pigs. This man is going to
market, and the wheelbarroW is his
means of transportation for the pro-
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