Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-05-13
DON CARRUTHERS
GOES SIGHTSEEING
Climbs Sacred Mountain in
China and Sees the Grave
of Confucius

Donald Carruthers of this city,
son of Mr.. and Mrs. ]. B. Carruthers,
1850 State street, now connected with
the Army Y. NJ. c. A. in Peking,
China, has sent another interesting let
ter home, which Telegraph readers
are sure to enjoy This was mailed
April 10 at Peking, and says:
Il just got back last night from
rather interesting trip into the interior
of China during which time saw the
grave of Confucius who lived 200 b. c.,
as well as climbed the sacred noun
tain where men have been worshipping
for nearly 1000 years.
The train left Peking last Tuesday
at $3.50 a. m. for Tientsin which is SO
miles to the south of Peking. In
China there are three classes on the
railroad and we took the third class
on this trip. 1t is something like a
street car and there no cushions on the
seats but these are made real comfort
able by unrolling your baggage
and bedding and sitting or sleeping on
these. The rate per mile is practically
cent mile or 4 times cheaper than
first class fare. They say that the
postal rates in China are the cheap
est in the world and | can we'll be-
lieve that this is true of the railroad
rates also The railroad which we
took south was built by German
firm and was a most remarkable one
for efficiency in management and con-
struction. 1T was built at the cost Of
$4,000 (gold) per mile The sta
uons along the way are beautiful and
there has been an attempt to make
use of Chinese architecture when this
could be successfully adapted to the
foreign type. The road bed and
bridges together with the grading was
q I
tainly was good example of the thor
oughness of German workmanship.
The locomotives were all made in Ger
many but L was quite amused to see
the airbrake was made and patented
by our own good American firm West
inghouse. The train crew were most
obliging and we were allowed to ride
in the cabin of the engine and even
on the cowcatcher If we chose.
We reached Tientsin and left at
1880 for the south arriving at Tsin-
anfu at IL p. m. that night where we
were to spend the night before going
on to the next point, some As miles
further south. The station at this
place was simply wonderful and as
fine as any of the ones at home ex-
cept those in the large cities. There
was large German settlement there
before the war and this city is the
capital of the provinces and conse-
quently fiourishing as compared with
other cities. The night was spent in
small German hotel and at breakfast
we had all the delicious German rolls
and meats we wanted. We then
caught the train for the first definite
stop, Taianfu where the sacred noun
tain Taishan Is located. This noun
tain is worshipped because of it's
great height and it is by far the high
est peak in this part of China. 1t is
sacred because it is supposed to reach
up to heaven. On the top of 1t are
several temples to the Mother of
Heaven" and it is considered the thing
for Chinese to mount the 1000
steps of stone and worship on the
summit. This mountain has been
worshipped for at least 1000 years,
Confucius himself having climbed it.
1t was hard to adequately think back
over such long period of change and
development not alone in the history
of China but of the world at large.
Making Pilgrimages
The pilgrims were going up and
down the mountain in considerable
numbers and one man was CARRYING
his old mother with her bound feet
down the mountain after having paid
her vows at the top. There are
nearly 1000 steps to the top and YOU
can imagine the agony OF these poor
Chinese women with their tiny pinch