replying, 'Not yet,' he
added, 'If you do not learn the Odes, you will not be fit to converse
with.' Another day, in the same place and the same way, he said to me,
'Have you read the rules of Propriety?' On my replying, 'Not yet,' he
added, 'If you do not learn the rules of Propriety, your character
cannot be established.'" "I asked one thing," said the enthusiastic
disciple, "and I have learned three things. I have learned about the
Odes; I have learned about the rules of Propriety; and I have learned
that the superior man maintains a distant reserve toward his son."

At the age of twenty-two we find Confucius released from the toils of
office, and devoting his time to the more congenial task of imparting
instruction to a band of admiring and earnest students. With idle or
stupid scholars he would have nothing to do. "I do not open the truth,"
he said, "to one who is not eager after knowledge, nor do I help any one
who is not anxious to explain himself. When I have presented one corner
of a subject, and the listener cannot from it learn the other three, I
do not repeat my lesson."

When twenty-eight years old Confucius studied archery, and in the
following years took lessons in music from the celebrated master, Seang.
At thirty he tells us "he stood firm," and about this time his fame
mightily increased, many noble youths enrolled themselves among his
disciples; and on his expressing a desire to visit the imperial court of
Chow to confer on the subject of ancient ceremonies with Laou Tan, the
founder of the Taouist sect, the reigning duke placed a carriage and
horses at his disposal for the journey.

The extreme veneration which Confucius entertained for the founders of
the Chow dynasty made the visit to Lo, the capital, one of intense
interest to him. With eager delight he wandered through the temple and
audience-chambers, the place of sacrifices and the palace, and having
completed his inspection of the position and shape of the various
sacrificial and ceremonial vessels, he turned to his disciples and said,
"Now I understand the wisdom of the duke of Chow, and how his house
attained to imperial sway." But the principal object of his visit to
Chow was to confer with Laou-tsze; and of the interview between these
two very dissimilar men we have various accounts. The Confucian writers
as a rule merely mention the fact of their having met, but the admirers
of Laou-tsze affirm that Confucius was very roughly handled by