7.  Chinese children are taught to show very great respect to their parents.  They all bow and kneel to their fathers and mothers.  A boy who is not kind and good to his parents is thought to be a wicked wretch.

8.  A few days ago I went to see a Chinese school.  The boys sit on stools at tiny tables.  In front of them they have a stone slab, a stick of Chinese ink, and some brushes with which they write.

[Illustration:  {A boy at a table at school}]

9.  There is always a great din in a Chinese schoolroom.  The boys shout at the top of their voices.  If they do not make a noise, the teacher thinks that they are not learning.

10.  When a boy knows his lesson he goes up to his master to say it.  He turns his back to his master, and does not face him as you do.

11.  A Chinese boy becomes a man at sixteen years of age.  He chooses his work in life when he is quite a baby.  Let me tell you how he does it.

12.  When he is one year old he is seated in the middle of such things as money, books, and pens.  Then the parents watch him to see what he will play with.

13.  If he takes up the money, they say that he must be a trader or a banker.  If he takes up a book or a pen, they say that he must be a writer or a teacher or a scholar.

* * * * *

21.  Hair, fingers, and toes.

1.  Chinese men shave their heads, all but a small patch of hair.  This is allowed to grow very long, and is plaited into a pigtail.  I have seen Chinamen with coloured ribbons woven into their pigtails.

[Illustration:  {Two Chinamen}]

2.  When men are at work they twine their pigtails round their heads.  When they wish to show respect to any person they let down their pigtails.  A man who has a long, thick pigtail is very proud of it.

3.  Sometimes men who are sent to prison have their pigtails cut off.  This is thought to be a great disgrace.  When they leave prison they buy false pigtails to wear.

4.  When Chinamen fight they pull each other about by the pigtail.  Sometimes a schoolmaster punishes bad boys with his pigtail.

5.  Rich women are very proud of their tiny feet.  Chinese ladies can wear shoes about four inches long.  Fancy mother wearing a doll’s shoes!

[Illustration:  {Chinese women holding fans}]

6.  Girls have their feet bound up tightly when they are five years of age.  The bandages are made tighter every week, until the foot stops growing.  Of course, the poor girls suffer very much.  The Chinese have a saying:  “Every pair of bound feet costs a bath of tears.”

7.  When the girls grow up they cannot walk.  They can only totter along, and they have to lean on the arm of a maid to keep themselves from falling.

[Illustration:  {Woman walking with the support of her maid}]

8.  I am glad to say that many parents do not now bind the feet of their girls.  They have learnt that it is both wicked and foolish to do so.  At one school in China all the girls have their feet unbound.  They skip and play about almost as well as Kate and May.