Tsangchow, Hopel, Feb, 2.
On a recent tour'in the district T came across an Interesting custom, Which subsequent investigation shows to be prevalent in other parts of North China—the celebration of 2 marriage between the spirits of minors, who have been dead for Some ime. 'The "raison d'étre for such an' extraordinary event is, of course, the passionate desire among Chinese fo maintain the family sue cession.
Tu numerous eases, where an only son dies before reaching the mar~ lage state, as for a younger son or brother In'simllar circumstances, considered necessary to contract spirit marriage for them, not merely. to secure the admission of their mortal remains (o the family bury-Ingeground, It is also of supreme importance before such a union takes place to select an adopted son for the palt, who will perform the time-honoured filial rites before his. parents' spirit tables, No minor: can be buried in. the graveyard of his ancestors, where only husbands and wives, in their proper sequence, rest side by side. So deep-rooted. is the aversion to single graves that the bodies of such unfortunates re laid to rest in sol-Mary plots, where it Is supposed their lonely' spirits can exercise no baneful induence upon their neighbours, living or dead, In the case of an elderly man, who ies a bachelor and leaves a bit of property; there is the usual unseemly scramble among relations to divide the spoll. Peacemakers are forthwith called In to settle the dispute and young male member of a collateral branch of deceased's family Is appointed heir to the estate, thus becoming the adopted son. "The next step is to provide the boy with a spirit mother, who will complete the family elrele and, to this end, a middleman canvasses for a suitable candidate among the families of girls in the neighbourhood, who have died without experiencing' matrimonial bliss, When representatives of both families have agreed to the condltons, an occasion for much eloquence and hard bargaining, the contract signed, ards are exchanged and a eky day chosen by the local feugshul expert for the nuptial ceremony'.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.