To his surprise and delight he succeded in his examination and Sie course" was appointed, 4a) the Pxamination in one of the districts of inspector of the. hal fame s an expositor" of Ching" grew "rapidly and when a famous official, called Tien Wen-chin, arrived In the district on an inspec: tion tour, he at once called on him, es he wished to show his respect to so worthy a man, 1t's0 happened that the scholar was out and Une great man sent messon~ gers after him and sat down at his Gesk to walt for his return, tured over a comer of the felt cloth which covered the table and underneath, amongst other things, he Found @ paper on which there was oom written, together with some Very bitter criticism which the scholar had made on it.
To his surprise and disgust he found that the poem was one which he himself had written, and greatly meensed.he threw the paper on the Moor and hurriedly left the place. When the scholar returned he was warned by those present of the unfortunate series of events which had culminated in his earning the enmity of the all-powerful "oMeial and new "that this would xfot only mean his dismissal from "his post bhut also that his life might be in danger, his despair he went to see the district magistrate, who was also. a well-known scholar, and asked him for his help and advice. The magistrate said that the only thing could suggest would be for him to resign his post and proceed to Pek-Ing and sit for the Chin Shih and Hanlin" examinations, which were shortly 10 take place, The good man in addition to giving this advice presented him with the generous sum of 200 taels for his expenses, and without delay he set futon iis journey. Fortune again favoured hin and not only did pass the Chin Shih, but also. the Hanlin examination, and so became tone of the acknowledged scholars of the land and destined for. an important offcisi post. Even then hho was stil the poor unpretentious scholar, and on the day he was to be admitted to the Hanlin Yuan he walked from his hotel to that most famous of all Chinese academies.
On his way he saw two well dressed youths playing on the dusty road. Full of importance he called fo them and said, "Why are you playing in the dirty street instead of studying in your homes?" To his surprise. they said to him, "Will you, food Sif, Kindly informs what" are the benémits of study?" "He replied, "It you succeed in your studies you can gain official rank, bring honour to your family and help the coun-wy." Then they said, "Have you, Rood sir, been "successful in your He then said, not without "TE have just become a Hanlin and am now proceeding tothe Hanlin Yuan to enter there." To Lis utter astonishment, they retorted, "If that is so, good sir, we must inform you" with "our sincerest apologies that we are your seniors, as we have already passed into the academy before you." One of the youths then said, "I'am Chou Tsang-chu, and T was the Chang Yuan, or
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.