aoist, Confucian, and other sources is that by catering to all classes
the book may have wide distribution, and whatever the Confucianist may
say, it must be admitted that the other religions have a strong hold
upon the popular mind.

The last twenty-six illustrations in Vol. I represent various incidents
in the life, history and employments of women.

The first of these is an ancient empress "weaving at night by her
palace window."

Another represents a woman in her boat and we are told that, "leaving
her oar she leisurely sang a song entitled, 'Plucking the Caltrops.'"

Another represents a woman "wearing a pomegranate-colored dress riding
a pear-blossom colored horse." A peculiar combination to say the least.

The fisherman's wife is represented in her boat, "making her toilet at
dawn using the water as a mirror." While we are assured also that the
woman sitting upon her veranda "finds it very difficult to thread her
needle by the pale light of the moon," which fact, few, I think, would
question.

In one of the pictures "a beautiful maiden, in the bright moonlight,
came beneath the trees." This is evidently contrary to Chinese ideas of
propriety, for the Classic for girls tells us that a maiden should not
go out at night except in company with a servant bearing a lantern. As
it was bright moonlight, however, let us hope she was excusable.

This sauntering about in the court is not uncommon if we believe what
the books say, for in the next picture we are told that:

As near the middle summer-house,
The maiden sauntered by,
Upon the jade pin in her hair
There lit a dragon-fly.

The next illustration represented the wife of the famous poet Ssu-Ma
Hsiang-Ju in her husband's wine shop.

This poet fell in love with the widowed daughter of a wealthy merchant,
the result of which was that the young couple eloped and were married;
and as the daughter was disinherited by her irate parent, she was
compelled to wait on customers in her husband's wine shop, which she
did without complaint. In spite of their imprudent conduct, and for the
time, its unhappy results, as soon as the poet had become so famous as
to be summoned to court, the stern father relented, and, as it was a
case of undoubted affection, which the Chinese readily appreciate they
have always had the sympathy of the whole Chinese people.

One of the most popular women in Chinese history is Mu Lan, the A
Chinese Joan of Arc