Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1915-12-17
ROADS IN CHINA,
They Remind One Very Much of
the Snakes In ireland.
BECAUSE THERE ARE NONE.

What Apologies There Are For Then
Are Great Deal Like the Bed Of /;
Stone Quarry-The Torture Tina
Goes With Trip In a Peking Cart.
Describing the roads, or, rather, thu
lack of roads, in China and the tor
ture that is undergone by the tourist
who, used to the luxurious modes OF
travel we may employ, trusts himself
to the uncertain joys of a trip in 8
Picking chair, writer in the Wide
World Magazine says:
'tNow, a Picking cart is very veneer
able mode Of progression. When our
ancestors were lightly dressed in woad
and had no conception Of any wheeled
vehicle the Chinese lady was paying
her calls in the back of Picking cart,
the seat Of honor under the tilt, well
out Of sight of the passers by, while
her servant sat in front, the place of
comfort, IL such word can be applied
to anything pertaining to a Picking
cart.
"In spite Of its long and aristocratic
' record II there is any mode of progress
/ sion more wearying and uncomforta-
BILE have not met 1t. It Is simply a
springless board set on a couple Of
| wheels with a wagon tilt Of blue cotton
over it and place for heavy luggage
behind. The Chinaman sits on the
| floor and does not seem to mind, but
the ordinary westerner. like myself.
packs his bedding and all the cushions
he can beg or borrow around him and
then resigns himself to his fate.
1.-THE Peking cart has one advantage
people will tell you-it has nothing to
break in it. But there are moments
when it would be a mighty relief If
something did break, for If the wood
work holds together as it losses you
from side to side you yourself are one
sore bruised mass. No; l cannot rec
ommend a Picking cart. even on the
smoothest road.
"And the roads in China are not
smooth. We all know the description
Of the snakes in Ireland. There are
none,' and much the same might be
are so called roads, certainly. upon
which the people move about, but 1
have seldom met one that was any
better than the surrounding country
and very, very often on this journey
l met roads where it was ease and lux
ury to move off them on to the neigh
boring plowed field.
n IN, fE0
north seems to be: Take piece Of the
country that is really too bad to plow
or to use for any agricultural purpose
whatever, that a mountain torrent, in
fact, has given up as too much for the
water, upset a stone wall over it-a
stone wall with good, large stones in
it-take care they never for mo-
ment lie evenly, and you have your
road.
Leaving Picking for the eastern
tombs, you go for the first two or
three hours along a paved way Of mag
nificent proportions planned and laid
out as a highway should be. The great
stones with which 1t Is paved were
probably put there by slave labor, how
many hundred years ago I do not
know, but the blocks are uneven now,
some Of them are gone altogether,
though how q huge block of stone
could possibly disappear passes my un-
and whenever the carter
could he took the cart down beside !
the road, where at least the dust made !
q cushion for the nail studded wheels,
and the Earring and the jolting were
not quite SO terrible.
ut takes as long to get beyond the |
environs Of Picking in cart as it does |
to get out Of London in a motorcar.
First we passed through the Babylon |
ish gate. and the great wallis were be-
hind us; then, outside the city, all look
ing dusty. dirty and khaki colored in
the brilliant sunshine, were numerous
small houses. and the wayside was
lined with booths on which were
things for sale.
"Along the roadway came an endless
array of people. clad for the most part
in blue cOtton-men walking. men with
loads slung from bamboo across
their shoulders. dOnkeys laden with
baskets OF SdCkS Oh grain. Will laL Cui-
nese on their backs. There were Picking
carts. there were mules. there were
ponies. and this busy throng is almost
the same as it was couple of thou
sand years ago.
But it was long, long while be-
fore l could feel was really in the
country. There was the khaki colored
land. there were the khaki colored
houses. built of mud apparently. with
graceful tiled roofs. and blue clad peo-
pie everywhere and everywhere III
work.
always the fields were most beau
tifully titled. There were no fences.
The Chinese are too civilized to need
fences, and when you see stone walls
L Is only because. since they can't lie
dropped or the planet into space. the
stones must be disposed of somehow"