is much the same as half a noggin of Exshare diluted with a bottle of Schweppe.  Pipes and tea are now handed round, though this is not the first appearance of tobacco on the scene.  Many Chinamen take a whiff or two at their hubble-bubbles between almost every course, as they watch the performance of some broad farce which on grand occasions is always provided for their entertainment.  Opium is served when dinner is over for such as are addicted to this luxury; and after a few minutes, spent perhaps in arranging the preliminaries of some future banquet, the party, which has probably lasted from three to four hours, is no longer of the present but in the past.

FEMALE CHILDREN

A great deal of trash has been committed to writing by various foreigners on the subject of female children in China.  The prevailing belief in Europe seems to be that the birth of a daughter is looked upon as a mournful event in the annals of a Chinese family, and that a large percentage of the girls born are victims of a wide-spread system of infanticide, a sufficient number, however, being spared to prevent the speedy depopulation of the Empire.  It became our duty only the other day to correct a mistake, on the part of a reverend gentleman who has been some twelve years a missionary in China, bearing on this very subject.  He observed that “the Chinese are always profuse in their congratulations on the birth of a son; but if a girl is born, the most hearty word they can afford to utter is, ’girls too are necessary.’” Such a statement is very misleading, and cannot, in these days of enlightenment on Chinese topics, be allowed to pass unchallenged.  “I hear you have obtained one thousand ounces of gold,” is perhaps the commonest of those flowery metaphors which the Chinese delight to bandy on such an auspicious occasion; another being, “You have a bright pearl in your hand,” &c., &c.  The truth is that parents in China are just as fond of all their children as people in other and more civilised countries, where male children are also eagerly desired to preserve the family from extinction.  The excess in value of the male over the female is perhaps more strongly marked among the Chinese, owing of course to the peculiarity of certain national customs, and not to any want of parental feeling; but, on the other hand, a very fair share both of care and affection is lavished upon the daughters either of rich or poor.  They are not usually taught to read as the boys are, because they cannot enter any condition of public life, and education for mere education’s sake would be considered as waste of time and money by all except very wealthy parents.  Besides, when a daughter is married, not only is it necessary to provide her with a suitable dowry and trousseau, but she passes over to the house of her husband, there to adopt his family name in preference to her own, and contract new obligations to a father- and mother-in-law