asion, and the baby is named.

All the relatives and friends are invited and every one is expected to
take dinner with the child, and, which is more important, to bring
presents. If the family is poor, this day puts into the treasury of
life a day of happiness and a goodly amount of filthy lucre. If the
family is rich the presents are correspondingly rich, for nowhere
either in Orient or Occident can there be found a people more lavish
and generous in their gifts than the Chinese. All the family can afford
is spent upon the dinner given on this occasion, with the assurance
that they will receive in presents and money more than double the
expense both of the dinner and the birth of the child. If they do not
"come" they are expected to "send" or they "lose face." Among the
middle-class, the presents are of a useful nature, usually in the form
of money, clothing or silver ornaments which are always worth their
weight in bullion.

The name given the child is called its "milk" name until the boy enters
school. Whether boy or girl it may answer a good part of its life to
the place it occupies in the family whether first, second or third.

If a girl she may be compelled to answer to "Little Slave," and if a
boy to "Baldhead." But the names usually given indicate the place or
time of birth, the hope of the parent for the child, or exhibit the
parent's love of beauty or euphony.

A friend who was educated in a school situated in Filial Piety Lane and
who afterwards lived near Filial Piety Gate called his first son "Two
Filials." Another friend had sons whose names were "Have a Man," "Have
a Mountain," "Have a Garden," "Have a Fish." In conversation with this
friend about the son whose "milk" name was "Have a Man," I constantly
spoke of the boy by his "school" name, the only name by which I knew
him. The old man was perfectly blank--he knew not of whom I spoke, as
he had not seen his son since he got his school name. Finally, as it
began to dawn on him that I was talking of his son, he asked:

"Whom are you talking about?"

"Your son."

"Oh, you mean 'Have a Man.'"

This same man had a little girl called "Apple," not an ordinary apple,
but the most luscious apple known to North China. I have as I write a
list of names commonly applied to girls from which I select the
following: Beautiful Autumn, Charming Flower, Jade Pure, Lucky Pearl,
Precious Harp, Covet Spring; and the parent's way of speaking of his
little girl, whe