hat the Chinese did teach us: how to make silk,
and how to make china or porcelain. And yet I should not say they taught
us; for they tried to prevent our learning their arts; but we saw their
silk and their porcelain, and by degrees we learned to make them
ourselves. A sly monk brought some silk-worm's eggs from China hidden in
a hollow walking-stick.

LANGUAGE.--There is no other language at all like the Chinese. Instead of
having letters to spell words, they have a picture for each word. I call
it a picture, but it is more like a figure than a picture. The Chinese
use brushes for writing instead of pens; and they rub cakes of ink on a
little marble dish, first dipping them in a little water, as we dip cakes
of paint. There is a hollow place in the marble dish, to hold the water.
What do you think the Chinese mean by "the four precious things?" They
mean the ink, the brush, the marble dish, and the water. They call them
precious because they are so fond of writing. Schoolmasters are held in
great honor in China, as indeed they ought to be everywhere. Yet schools
in China are much like those in Turkey, more fit for parrots than
children; only Chinese boys sit in chairs with desks before them, instead
of sitting cross-legged on the ground, as in Turkey. They learn first to
paint the words, and next to repeat lessons by heart. This they do in a
loud scream; always turning their backs to their masters while they are
saying their lessons to him.

The first book which children read is full of stories, with a picture on
each page. Would you like to hear one of these stories?

"There was a boy of eight years old, named Um-wen. His parents were so
poor that they could not afford to buy a gauze curtain for their bed, to
keep off the flies in summer. This boy could not bear that his parents
should be bitten by the flies; so he stood by their bedside, and
uncovered his little bosom and his back that the flies might bite him,
instead of his parents. 'For,' said he, 'if they fill themselves with my
blood, they will let my parents rest.'"

Would it be right for a little boy to behave in this way? Certainly not;
for it would grieve kind parents that their little boys should be bitten.
Poor little Chinese boys! They do not know about Him who was bitten by
the old serpent that we might not be devoured and destroyed.

PUNISHMENT.--The Chinese are very quiet and orderly; and no wonder,
because they are afraid of the great bamboo stic