the rules of Propriety?’ On my replying, ‘Not yet,’ he added, ’If you do not learn the rules of Propriety, your character cannot be established.’” “I asked one thing,” said the enthusiastic disciple, “and I have learned three things.  I have learned about the Odes; I have learned about the rules of Propriety; and I have learned that the superior man maintains a distant reserve toward his son.”

At the age of twenty-two we find Confucius released from the toils of office, and devoting his time to the more congenial task of imparting instruction to a band of admiring and earnest students.  With idle or stupid scholars he would have nothing to do.  “I do not open the truth,” he said, “to one who is not eager after knowledge, nor do I help any one who is not anxious to explain himself.  When I have presented one corner of a subject, and the listener cannot from it learn the other three, I do not repeat my lesson.”

When twenty-eight years old Confucius studied archery, and in the following years took lessons in music from the celebrated master, Seang.  At thirty he tells us “he stood firm,” and about this time his fame mightily increased, many noble youths enrolled themselves among his disciples; and on his expressing a desire to visit the imperial court of Chow to confer on the subject of ancient ceremonies with Laou Tan, the founder of the Taouist sect, the reigning duke placed a carriage and horses at his disposal for the journey.

The extreme veneration which Confucius entertained for the founders of the Chow dynasty made the visit to Lo, the capital, one of intense interest to him.  With eager delight he wandered through the temple and audience-chambers, the place of sacrifices and the palace, and having completed his inspection of the position and shape of the various sacrificial and ceremonial vessels, he turned to his disciples and said, “Now I understand the wisdom of the duke of Chow, and how his house attained to imperial sway.”  But the principal object of his visit to Chow was to confer with Laou-tsze; and of the interview between these two very dissimilar men we have various accounts.  The Confucian writers as a rule merely mention the fact of their having met, but the admirers of Laou-tsze affirm that Confucius was very roughly handled by his more ascetic contemporary, who looked down from his somewhat higher standpoint with contempt on the great apostle of antiquity.  It was only natural that Laou-tsze, who preached that stillness and self-emptiness were the highest attainable objects, should be ready to assail a man whose whole being was wrapt up in ceremonial observances and conscious well-doing.  The very measured tones and considered movements of Confucius, coupled with a certain admixture of that pride which apes humility, must have been very irritating to the metaphysically-minded treasurer.  And it was eminently characteristic of Confucius, that notwithstanding the great provocation given him on this occasion, he