Yet schools
in China are much like those in Turkey, more fit for parrots than
children; only Chinese boys sit in chairs with desks before them, instead
of sitting cross-legged on the ground, as in Turkey. They learn first to
paint the words, and next to repeat lessons by heart. This they do in a
loud scream; always turning their backs to their masters while they are
saying their lessons to him.
The first book which children read is full of stories, with a picture on
each page. Would you like to hear one of these stories?
"There was a boy of eight years old, named Um-wen. His parents were so
poor that they could not afford to buy a gauze curtain for their bed, to
keep off the flies in summer. This boy could not bear that his parents
should be bitten by the flies; so he stood by their bedside, and
uncovered his little bosom and his back that the flies might bite him,
instead of his parents. 'For,' said he, 'if they fill themselves with my
blood, they will let my parents rest.'"
Would it be right for a little boy to behave in this way? Certainly not;
for it would grieve kind parents that their little boys should be bitten.
Poor little Chinese boys! They do not know about Him who was bitten by
the old serpent that we might not be devoured and destroyed.
PUNISHMENT.--The Chinese are very quiet and orderly; and no wonder,
because they are afraid of the great bamboo stick.
The mandarins (or rulers of towns) often sentence offenders to lie upon
the ground, and to have thirty strokes of the bamboo.
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