pher Mang had come to loom,
that anyone could attribute "flashy airs" to that great-hearted
simple Gentleman K'ung Ch'iu. One thing only I believe in about
that interview: Confucius' reputed speech on coming forth from
it to his disciples:--"There is the Dragon; I do not know how he
mounts upon the wind and rises about the clouds. Today I have
seen Laotse, and can only compare him to the Dragon." He _would
have said_ that; it has definite meaning; the Dragon was the
symbol of the spirit, and so universally recognised.--Confucius
appears to have taken none of his disciples into the Library;
and Confucianist writers have had nothing to say about the
incident, except that it occurred, I believe. Chwangtse, and all
Taoist writers after him, show Confucius taking his rating very
quietly;--as indeed, he would have done, had Laotse been in a
mood for quizzing. For Confucius never argued or pressed his
opinions; where his words were not asked for and listened to, he
retired. But it is not possible the recognition should have been
other than mutual: the great Laotse would have known a Man
when he saw him. I like the young imperturbable K'ung Jung,
precocious ten-year-old of some seven centuries later. His
father took him up to the capital when the Dragon Statesman Li
Ying was the height of his power; and the boy determined on
gaining an interview with Li. He got admission to the latter's
house by claiming blood-relationship. Asked by the great man
wherein it lay, says he very sweetly: "Your ancestor Laotse and
my ancestor Confucius were friends engaged in the search for
truth; may we not then be said to be of the same family?"--
"Cleverness in youth," sneered a bystander, "does not mean
brilliancy in later life."--"You, Sir," says Ten-years-old,
turning to him, "must have been a very remarkable boy." *

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* Giles: _Chinese Literature._
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The truth is, both Mencius and Chwangtse stood a step lower and
nearer this world than had the two they followed: whose station
had been on the level platform at the top of the altar. But
Mencius descending had gone eastward; Chwangtse towards
the west.

He was all for getting at the Mean, the Absolute Life, beyond the
pairs of opposites;--which is, indeed, the central Chinese
thought, Confucian or Taoist, the _raison d'etre_ of Chinese
longevity, and the saving health of China. But unfortunately he
--Chwangtse--did not see that his own opposite, Philosopher