Annee, That wonders will never cease is proved again by the further selection of stories from the Chinese press which appear to-day, One cannot help thinking that it is fortunate that some of the monsters reported as almost a daily occurrence in various parts of this country did not live in other countries, and that their habitat is the Hwai River and not Loch Ness, With one half of the material they provide, the Loch Ness monster has become famous the world over. But how long could it withstand the competition of a monster like the one reported to-day?
Jding. Soo Chu, greatly alarmed, Jdecided to disguise himself as the forde. His ruse proved successful Jand the ceremony was performed without a hitch. At 11 o'clock {that night, the bridegroom escorted his "bride," together with several relatives, to "her" new home on his boat. Soo Chu, still undetected, sneaked to the side of the boat and, making it appear as if it was an Jaccident, jumped overboard. Every-tone rushed to see what happened when, to their amazement, they saw the "bride's" hard dress torn away by the fall and the lovely complexion washed away by the water, revealing none other than the "notorious loafer, Soo Chu. They immediately proceeded where the latter's boat was Many vagabonds have recently visited the city of Pengpu. Some of them, because of their ability to cure sicknesses by strange arts, have been well received by the poorer inhabitants, Recently a newcomer named Hu Tien appeared, At first he was seen soliciting alms for his one solitary meal per day. Then he would disappear for a few days, go into the mountains and subsist on wild fruits. After such periods, he would return to the city and take up begging again, curing ailments the poor in his spare time. He did not use herbs but treated his patients by puncturing with gold needles. This method proved to be very effective, In a short period he was known to have cured more than 70 women in the city. He kept his gold needies in a small bag but, in addition to these, he used steel needles for more serio ailments, These, however, were Kept in his stomach and when a patient was to be treated, he simply pressed his abdomen in with his hand and the needles would come out of his mouth. When the treatment was over, he would drink some water and swallow the steel needles. The writer (a cor~ respondent of the "Morning Post," a local Chinese daily) saw with his own eyes the feat just mentioned performed, It was said that this vagabond also possesses other mysterious powers such as travelling a distance, which would take several days, in an hour, People said that he travelled "between Tsinan and Pengpu in this short period of time. No one, however has ever seen this kind of "fight" yet. usually to be found, but It had already disappeared. The police, Jare now looking for him and wife.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.