It is by this time well known to all the world, that at the Chinese New Year, all debts must be paid, in order that the debtor and the creditor may both begin the next twelve-month ona sure and safe basis, This circumstance has attracted a great deal of attention, especially since China and the Chinese came to be better known by the people of the West, and it is not uncommior to see paragraphs in our home papers praising the Chinese custom, and recommending its adoption in other lan The real causes of the custom of paying of debts at the end of the year are not obvious at first that they will not bear ox-planation, and it is to this subject that we now invite attention. There are three general causes for the existence of this usage, all of which are important, and which combined form a three-ply cord, not easily broken.
Everybody owes somebody. Idle disputes occasionally take place as to whether It is a truthful proposition that China is a rich country. In one sense she is, in another and equally important sense, she is not rich, but poor. There is a vast amount of property, but itis not well distributed, and strange to say, nobody has enough, The conditions of life in China are to totally different from those to which we are accustomed in our own lands, that it is hard fully
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.