A difference is made between boys and girls in China, but it is not so great as the following lines might lead you to think: “When a son is born, He sleeps on a bed, He is clothed in robes, He plays with gems, His cry is princely loud, This emperor is clad in purple. He is the domestic prince and king. When a daughter is born, She sleeps on the ground, She is clothed with a wrapper, She plays with a tile, She has only to think of preparing wine and food Without giving any cause of grief to her parents.” In winter time little King Baby is rolled in clothes until he looks like a ball, though his feet and part of his Girl babies, like their little brothers, are shaved at the end of the first month, but with less ceremony. When Master Tiny is a year old, another feast is made, and brightly-coloured shoes and hats are given to him. After the feast is over the little fellow is put on a table in the room where the ancestors of the family are worshipped. Round him are placed various things, such as a pen, a string of cash, a mandarin’s button, etc. Then everyone waits to see which he will stretch out a fat hand to seize, for it is supposed that the thing which he chooses will show what he is going to be or to do in the world, by and by. If baby grabs the pen, he will be a scholar; if the money takes his fancy, he will go into business; but if his eager fingers grasp the shining mandarin button, his father and mother hopefully believe that he will be a great man some day. CHINESE BABIES The Chinese are wonderfully patient and kind in treating their babies. Much of the gladness of their lives and of their homes is bound up with the boys and girls who play about their houses. They love their children, in spite of things which sometimes seem to prove that they do not When the little ones learn, Here is the picture of two little twin-boys, four years old. Some time ago, one of them said to his sister: “God does not sleep at night.” His father, who had heard the words, asked, “Lien-a, how do you know that God does not sleep at night?” “The hymn says, ‘God night and day is waking, He never sleeps,’” answered the little fellow. “But can’t you think of something yourself which shows that God is awake at night?” asked his father. “I hear the wind at night,” said the child, after a little pause, “and see the moon and stars.” He meant God must be awake to keep the wind blowing and the moon and stars shining. One day a friend gave each of the twins a bright new five-cent piece. Their mother took care of the coins, saying, “I will keep them for you, until we can get enough to use as buttons for your next new jackets,” and the little fellows were ever so happy. Not long after, people were gathering money to build a new church, and the little boys’ father said to them: “Children, have you got anything which you can give to help to build the new church?” The little boys thought and thought, then one of them said, “Yes, we have our silver buttons.” So they gave their treasured little shining pennies most gladly. But I think that God was gladder still. |