Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-03-25
PERSONAL AND SOCIAL NEWS
NEWS FROM CHINA
AT FIRST HANDS
Donald Carruthers Tells of
Chinese New Year and Other
Interesting Matter

Mr. and Mrs. ]. B. Carruthers, of
state street, received the following
letter this morning from their son,
Donald c. Carruthers, who is the
Princeton University representative at
the Army Y. NJ. c. A. at Peking,
/ China. The association is for the
diplomatic corps, soldiers and sailors,
American, British and German men.
The Chinese New Year is now in
progress and there are a great many
strange customs observed at this time.
About week before the nrst of their
year the Kitchen God is burned up
so that he may go to the world of the
spirits and report on what was done
in the family during the past year.
They very cleverly fix it so that he
can't say any thing about their deeds
and misdeeds for they stuff his mouth
with sticks of sweet candy and thus
make 1t possible for him to speak the
proverbial 'honeyed words of our
good friend Homer. For the first two
days of the New Year all the shops
in the city are closed and it is i'm
possible to buy things which are
usually on sale every day. There is
custom also of visiting the graves of
their ancestors on New Years eve and
thus show certain amount of rev.
erence TO them. 1t is most difficult
for the native Christian members of
the family for they do not observe
these customs quite naturally and it
becomes quite problem for them if
they be the only Christians in the
home and all the other members con-
tinue TO worship in this old way.
Il went outside the city the other
day, to see them worship at the
Il Il J., fgW II.
The custom is to bow three times be-
fore the image of the Buddha and
then to light sticks of incense at the
same time in memory of your ances-
tors. You then buy paper money and
burn 1t in the temple thus assuring
you of a successful year. One old
woman 1 saw spent 90 cents for the
good of her soul and then went away
having paid her religious duties for
the entire year. I felt il was not un-
like working off the necessary number
of chapels when l was in Princeton.
1t was quite pathetic however, to see
the heather in his blindness bow down
TO wood and stone. In the court of
this big temple were all manner OF
sellers of goods and it was easy to
picture the temple i'm Jerusalem when
Jesus drove forth all them that sold
and overturned the tables of the
money changers. Huge fires of in
more was being constantly cast on the
fire by eager worshipers. In one of
the rooms of the temple was q figure
of bronze horse with peculiar medi- I
cinal and healing virtues. You We're
to kiss that part of the beast in
which you were bothered and it is not
hard to see what an infectious article
such an object would be among so
many ignorant people.
Interesting Visitors
Two very interesting Germans
called in the Army Y. NJ. C. \. the
other day and 1 got to know them
fairly well. The next day took them
through the Chinese Y. NJ. c. A. and
they were considerably overawed by
some of the modern things they saw.
They have both been in the interior of
one of the southern provinces in the
South of China, just north of Burma.
They are under the direction of the
Dresden Museum and are collecting
birds and butterflies for the Museum
One of them last year alone collected
more than 10000 perfect specimens of
the butterflies of South China-rep-
resenting more than 1000 different
species. 1t will require or years
work to mount them and arrange
them when he goes back to Germany
and after that he will then be ready
to classify them and study them. I
told him in my best German that he
sure was a typical German student.
The other chap is interested in bird
migration and has collected nearly
$500 birds of more than $40 species.
In Europe to-day there are but 250
species and this increase is quite note
worthy. He has added one or more
whole families to the known birds of
China. Naturally l found the men in
teresting.
"I have begun to give the series of
To-, .s,I
Economics which l had planned. The 1
men in the course are very keen and |
understand English to a marked de- |
gree. I find it quite enjoyable teach |
ing men a subject about which they |
have never heard or thought. 1t is |
like planting in a new soil only find |
it difficult to find the proper seed at .
times.
'T took two marines and a professor
just out from America (H. Vinace who |
just left the Princeton Graduate Col
lege in January to take a position in
a Tientsin Government school to the |
Forbidden City to look at the museum
and painting collection. This last
was on exhibit for this week only, so |
/ was mighty fortunate to get in be- /
fore the collection was permanently
closed. I doubt II I have ever seen
any finer bits of realism in painting
than ! saw there in one of the paint
lllES VI d waterman WIFI d
eagle sitting just above it. It was the
finest thing of it's kind have seen in |
a long while and doubt if I shall ever
forget its charm The two marines
and the other chap were likewise
particularly struck by its beauty |
When they saw the gold scabbards |
studded with diamonds belonging to
the previous emperors they could |
hardly contain themselves for they
had not thought such things possible |
in China. One man said: wouldn't |
have missed seeing that museum for
anything. 1 wouldn't have felt that
I had seen China if had not gone |
there"
Political Matters
'I note that you are all quite |
anxious over political matters in China |
now and ] suppose this may be partly /
caused by American press reports. 1
There is one thing sure-Peking willi
not be troubled-and the foreigners |
by no means Everything up north 1
here is as quiet as one could desire. /
It looks as if the south would split |
into a republic and the north would 4
remain a monarchy. But we don't
know"
Miss Lillian Sheetz and Miss Doror
Oden. of Winchester Va are Il