-H

m?" Sybil asked, as soon as their "Peep-show," as the children continued to call their father's stories, began the next afternoon. During the

I think what you hear may puzzle you a goo

ther make ma

first missionaries to Peking, so was most thankf

EN OF T

hism he often gave thanks. One was a citizen of Ti

pipe in a most indifferent manner, when my father, through his teacher, first

you hav

to believe, and to long for Christian baptism, before receiving which they not only left off worshipping their family idols, but even destroyed them. A short time ago I heard that this man had be

is name?" a

g-Se

of the oth

ngst which was to be heard very often that of 'foreign devil.' I believe he even looked for stones to throw at us. Your grandfather-always a very quiet, self-possessed man-just dropped some tracts at his s

have been very ple

ront of the other, and at night we slept at inns, where, I think, you would like to hear about our sleeping accommodation. It was winter, and as the Peking wi

KA

, which had a chimney at one end, whilst at the other end, a little while before bed-time, a small quantity of dry fuel was set on fire, when the flame passed through the tun

RIVER PEI-HO

e day-time for cooking purposes, when the bed-clothes were removed from the kang, on which mats,

ldren l

bout the religion yet

t Peking and Tientsin first," Leonard answe

d do you know wha

ne, I should think, as it carries things, does

t the principal one of the province of Pe-chili

"And I suppose there is ever so much traffic on it

n there. I have a picture of

ese boats have, father? I d

he Imperial Navy generally fly a flag at the main, on which red lines are drawn, or sometimes a tri-colour is hoisted there instead. Red would, I suppose, be for

ted for something?

OF FOREIG

n religion should be protected by Chinese authorities, that British subjects should be allowed to travel in the country for

ion, please, fathe

hough there are also Jews and Mahometans amongst them. At one time it is supposed that the people of China had really a knowledge of the true God, and that when

ancestors, they nearly lost sight of the Supreme Ruler

and clever philosopher of China, who was born 551 b.c., wrote and put together

s very anxious to improve the manners of the people; but women he ranked very low. Confucianism is-but perhaps you will not understand this-more a philosophy than a religion. Its

y much of idols, after he was dead

AND

their good and bad deeds will be rewarded here by riches or poverty, long or short life,

onfucianists; school-boys also worship an idol or table

-time and autumn, sacrifices are here offered, the Emperor himself, as high priest, presiding at these two ceremonies in

lly good, his nature being given by heaven, and th

ns, please, fathe

ver it for three years; and all these, again, have many officers under them. There are also a great many military mandarins. A great mark of imperial favour is to allow mandarins, civil or military, to wear a peacock's feather in t

ards their people, although they do not always behave like f

e does wrong?" Leonard asked. "And

WITH PEACOC

robe of blue silk, embroidered with gold threads. This reached to their ankles, being fastened round their waists with a belt. Over this was

er?" Sybil then said. "You had just told us that th

ip they look upon as a continuation of the reverence they had been taught to sh

for its founder. He thought that to grow perfect he must seclude himself from other people, and in his retirement was always looking for the Taou-le, the meaning of which you will hardly understand-the cause or the end of all things. His followers are called Taouists. This philosopher says in his book that 'it is by stillness, and contemplation, and union with Taou, that virtue is to be achieved'-Taou h

ouists as the third of a trinity of p

jumped up into the air, and said, as he pointed with his left hand to heaven and his right hand to the earth, 'Heaven above, earth beneath: only Taou is honourable.' The Taouist trinity are supposed to live in th

they are believed in by the people, and are em

e so many things like Christians, even in a trinity, and the

h and grasping some parts of it, which seem as though they were a very necessity to religion. These Taouist priests are

eep-show. Please tell us now abo

HIST P

d of the thirteenth century there were more than 4,200 Buddhist temples in China, and more than 213,000 monks. The Buddhist trinity is called Pihte, or the Three Precious Ones: Buddha Past, Buddha Present, and Buddha Future, and dreadfully ugly idols they are. The Buddhist's idea of heaven is Nirvana, or rest, or more properly speaking, extinction. The Chinese Buddhist thinks that a man possesses three souls or spirits, one of which accompanies the body to the grave, another passes into his ancestral tablet to be worshipped, and the third enters into one, or all, of the ten kingdoms of the Buddhistic hel

aid. "So they cannot believe at al

hey do

a Buddhist priest ve

A BUDDHIST

umbers, and these monasteries are prettily situated, surrounded by lakes and gardens. They consist of a number of s

NAST

s very good men

GO

her times his garments are of white or ash colour, or he wears a long, grey cowl with flowing sleeves. Buddhist priests shave all their hair two or three times a month. They think it is of great use to repeat their classics very often to the gods, and keep an account of the number of times they say them on their beads. I fancy they use brooms wherewith to sprinkle holy water. There are four special commandments for Buddhists, both priests and people: not to destroy animal life, not to steal, not to speak falsely, and not to drink wine. In monasteries the refectories of the priests are very large, and they have all to

hen you thought you would be late for school,

ave the Chinese?

LAMASARY, BUD

g those who are peculiarly Buddhist divinities, and Buddhists invoking, in return, their gods. Indeed, the three religions have so borrowed from one another, and people have believed so much as they liked, that the Chine

e founder o

o left wealth and luxury to go about relieving suffering wherever he found it. After he di

me of the g

them to eat, and teaching them to smile and walk; a god of wine; a god of fire; a goddess of mercy; a goddess of sailors; a goddess of children, called 'Mother'; a god of the kitchen; a god of measles, a god of small-pox. Then the Confucianists worship two stars, wh

THE MOON

reat Lama? You have not told us anything about him ye

it prevails principally in Thibet and Mongolia, has also its follow

is a liv

posed to pass into an infant whom the priests select by a likeness that th

asked, who was getting a little tired of t

es do not receive worship, but guard the doors. Incense is burning in front; the high priest, to the right, is lifting up his hands in adoration, whilst the people offer scented rods and ta

l equinox, when, at six o'clock in the evening, a very solemn sacrifice is offered, and the great ladies of the capital meet to burn their tapers. I app

people," Sybil said; "if so, how

to idolatry. Many of the more enlightened heathen, I believe, only regard their idols as representations of the Deity they are feeling after, and not really as the Deity Himself; alt

cult to teach the

them the great truths of the Bible; and Confucius having for nearly twenty centur

Chinese, and that you are taking some copies

ad a literature 700 years before Christ. Th

s believe in, and read, t

great

many Christians

native followers, and 1,702 communicants, of whom nine are native clergymen and 174 native Christian teachers. In China altogether there are 40

ightly. Sybil was a child who thought that there was nobody, exce