Who Chinese are exceeding! of talking of the five relationships in life," (Fi4@), which they prize greatly asia form of government ordained by the will of Heaven, regarding it as something sacred, inviolable, anda path of duty and righteousness. Much importance, therefore, ix xttuched to the observance of this relationship, and any one who diverges muon prineip'es ix considered as helen ing to the lower order of bei unworthy {0 be associated with m: Theoretieally sparking, he becomes an outcast, deserted by his friends and relatives. According to the Chinese custom, a delin= quent of this hint i ty be sent xs a male-facts to the native mandarin for severe nent, most probably by the slow, However, this is seldom exaction of money on the one hand, and a loss of face" of the parents on the other. In the classics, the above subject is often referred to and clearly seaforth. Boysorer sixteen years of age, who are supposed to have obtained " rudimentary education at Toast, are expected to know enouy! connected with the "stepping ston which underlies all human virtues."
From personal experience of my own among the Chinese, I have lowned and as nined that the meaning of the five relationships in life is not clear, and, worst of all, is) misunderstood and abused, Many' of them, without any good solid ground or reason, but rather from prejudice and frivolous antipathies, abruptly remark that foreigners do not possess such virtues. Others whose thoughts are a little more polished, whose confines are mostly in the Treaty Ports, and, notwithstanding their anti-foreign spirit, usually relationship between father and son and that between husband and wife. It is nee Hess, indeed, to give their reason, as it shows nothing but childish folly, and narrow sphere of observation, and calls forth contempt, if not indignation.
But, foreigners, let it be remembered, are no longer the only class of people suffering from this insulting and obnoxious remark, made out of ignorance more than anything else. They have their ce-sufferers, and they are readily to be found every. where, bearing it more patiently and manly asthe abuse goesonincreasingin volume and intensity. These people, bigoted as they are, base not limited their remarks upon people from afar, but have already extended it even to their own fellow-countrymen. The Chinese Christivns in this case as also in many others of a similar nature, are the firs: who fall into the same common lot hich incurs their reproach, ridicule, and curse. It acts really like the bee's sting to their eyes when they soe men and women sitting side by side in the Church, singing hymns and listening to the sermons, intensifying all the more their tt r hatred of liberties and privileges granted to women. It is quite a common occurrence, as past events have shown, for them to speak il of these followers of Christ, and, in order to make o hers believe what they say, they mike up all sorts of stories against them, and they are perhaps the best story-makers in the world. Rest, Tsay, and best, let it be repeated. The fact is that they have little respect for truth, nor do they take the trouble to investigate it. Why?" they say, this ix certainly wrong to the bottom. Men and women should not intermingle like wild beasts, there should be a wide and distinct separation between them, as wide as the sky is from the earth. As women they should be secluded apart by themselves and not prowl about as it they had no m6: desty. The women of to-day different from those of long years ago! tradition forbid sus to give women s place in society, neither has our forefather ever attempted it. _Tudeed, there is no good reason why it should, for she, ordained by nature as it were, is not man's equal. There would be horrible moral degradation and confusion reigning over the country as soon as the foreign method of treating women was adopted. But alas, many of our short-uted people do not see the danger of it, joy seem to think that everything fore' is good and commendable, they overlook the smallness and civilisation of our land, When a man becomes a Christian, he no longer centres his love in his parents, relatives, and friends, neither does he sob his affection on the things of his own home. His minds, manner, habit, in a word, all and everything becomes changed. He refuses to worship the ancestral tablets, and to join in much of the fun that we' play so much. However wrong it be, he should by all means obey what his parents command or advise, without any sign of unwillingness or coercion, whereas, different from before, he would now occasionally dispute with them when the comma or advice was erroneously given. Is this in harmony with the five relationships in life? No, not the: least. True, when a man becomes a Christian he loses his (EL @) and where has he infect. ed this but from foreigners? Re. garding the mutual treatment of a Chri tian father with his son, it is equally obnoxious. The father does not regard his son as a son, and the son does not regard his father as such. They have not much feeling towards one another, and they live almost independently. Let us strive while we may to teach our youths whose knowledge of the world is shallow and whose mind is conformable to all evil influences round about not to learn the foreigner's Gradually but steadily the progressive Chinese, being more liberal in thoughts as in habits, commence to throw in almost unconsciously their lot with the Chinese Caristians and foreigners in regard to the ge relationships of life. They see what they aim at and know the fruit of thei aimi. They yearn for the adoption of their system—the system which regulates and betters family and society, and example to others they have adopted it first. But, alas! as tie result of their they only receive a shower of curses—without 'a word of encouragement or a smile of cheer.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.