"Tur Aprosiocearny or 4 Doc."—By Florence Ayscouzh.
shed by Hourhion, Miflin, Ca, Mrs. Ayscough's latest book is wested, if possible, with even more that' charm peculiar to he-self by which she vivifies the "every-Jday life of China to a reader. In "The Autobiography of a Chinese she has presented this cveryday life through the eyes of an Jimperturtable and captivating small dog, of the species "toy," and £0 [convincingly is this done tat a reader begins to imagine. that he secs a symbol in the whole idea.
Yo Fei, named after a legendary (Chinese warrior, exhibits all there endearing tendencies customary" to fan erdicary Pekinese canine. In other ways, however, he is most out of the ordinary. So attuned fare his eyes, ears, olfactory -nerves and general observations te surroundings that he is able to dispense vast stores of information to the causal reader without a of fatigue. The simplicity of book, one might say here, beats evidence of the Chinese erudition which Mrs. Ayscough possesses, so great an extent that she ne intrudes it.
Yo Fei is never tiresome, He reclaims himself with every sen" rare wag" which sees only a means to a more sympathetic understanding of the Jordinary, Me tells the story of a certain Mr. Hu who made a. crile of tea-drinking, with his own small nose crinkling at the aroma of a good cup of his native brew. This story tickles the fancy of Yo Fei who is a most poetical little dog at heart, Tis tongue glows pink from winding poetical phrases lovingly around it- when he ex plains how a certain tea "good to the extremities of Heaven and Earth" came to be s0, It was me fused from the exystal dewdrops clinging to lotus Keaves on the lake at early morning and Yo Fei knows that such ca is far superior to other varieties.
He retains of the great Amy Lowell the essential fact that. she }was his "Lady of Fine Perception." His small heart misses a beat. recollection of a certain. "Wild Goose Happiness House." There are other moments, of course, when Yo Fei is merely concerned with cats—cats with formidable names like [Curzon and Kitchener. And though Yo Fei travelled widely and shared with his author-mistress a justi-fable and wholly deserved attention, wherever tis travels led his smalt mind had moments of straying back to his native China, And small reason, for, "in China no hedges divide one man's "property from that of his neighbours; no white boards state Trespassers Will Be Proseeuted'" and he could race for miles on end.
In his land Yo Fel goes Wis shadow with that procesonsy arts whee barrow eae sisting othe cabs tenio and othoin aking hin fette delicious iti dog." Nye
the pleasant fabric of many of he! own days in company with Mist\g= ayscough lite woven in this in the book.
Pidgin English comes in for a sympathetic treatment and tome of the younger China hands whose knowledge of this intricate putoix is haphazard would do well to ponder on the face that the right way to say a thing ix nine times out of ten the only way to get what you want.
And finally an appreciative reviewer of The Autobiography can only und with a, note of teer that all cannot be a small "pai dog in China, for does not Yo Fet say in all sincerity that "the sights, sounds and smells—wiich I have heard humans object to—were most 'AS an aftermath of the Bishop of London's visit, little Willie returned home in great excitement after the Sunday school. "Mother, who do you think came to our Ssu lay school to-day?" he shouted as 201 as he could recover his breath, Who, "inquired the patient shanghai parent. "Why the Pope, announced er offspring sgeandiloquently.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.