k
similar to Indian ink is moistened and ground on to a stone slab or
"ink-stone," until the penmanship is frequently of a firmness and
beauty surpassing that of copper-plate. In such veneration is the
written character held that it is accounted wrong to debase in any
way paper on which writing may be inscribed, wherefore conscientious
_literati_ sometimes pass along the streets gathering into baskets
stray pieces of paper bearing written characters, to burn them
reverently in miniature pagodas or towers erected on public ground for
that especial purpose.

The career of a student is considered to be the most honourable of
all, but though chiefly restricted to handwriting, knowledge of
characters, composition and national history, the Chinese admit that
no man has ever yet thoroughly mastered his own language or even
learnt all the characters.

How then about foreigners' knowledge of the language? It is like the
nibblings of a mouse at a mountain.

In the course of two or three years a European by means of hard work,
good memory and facile ear, may succeed in speaking one of the
dialects so as generally to make himself understood, but to the end of
his days his speech, for more than a few sentences, would never be
mistaken in the dark by one Chinaman for that of another Chinaman.

As for the written character, I do not believe it possible for any
European to acquire more than a superficial general, or a mature
one-sided, knowledge of it. Some missionaries, notably Jesuits, have
given their lives to the work and have undoubtedly attained to
considerable erudition in the classics and in subjects pertaining to
religious doctrines, but in place give them some business papers or
other documents in current use and they would be at once hopelessly
nonplussed.

A man may have mastered eight or ten thousand characters and may be
able to read or dictate letters on any subject, but he probably would
not be able to read a single line from most of the classics.

I have heard, as a phenomenal thing, of a foreigner being able to
write a letter himself, but the fact of its being phenomenal shows how
unusual it was, and does not prove the absence of either crudities or
errors.

All Europeans, even the most competent, are _always_ assisted by
educated Chinamen when engaged on serious Chinese work. Unaided, they
might read much correctly, but they might altogether miss the sense,
and most probably would meet with characters they