"From the old down to the present time our sages have devoted
hemselves to the written character, that fairest jewel in heaven
above or earth beneath. Those therefore who are stimulated by a
thirst for fame, strive to attain their end by the excellency of
their compositions; others, attracted by desire for wealth pursue
their object with the help of daybook and ledgers. In both cases
men would be helpless without a knowledge of the art of writing
Of late, however, our schools have turned out an arrogant
2nd ignorant lot of boys who venture to use old books for wrapping
parcels or papering windows, for boiling water or wiping the table;
boys, I say, who scribble over their books, who write characters
on wall or door, who chew up the drafts of their poems or throw
them away on the ground. Let all such be severely punished by
their masters, that they may be saved, while there is yet time,
from the wrath of an avenging heaven. Some men use old pawn
tickets for wrapping up things it may be a cabbage or a pound
of beanourd.
Their crime, however, will be laid at the door of those who
erred in the first instance, i.e. those who, sold their old books
to the shopkeepers. For they hoped to squeeze some profit,
infinitesimal indeed, out of the tattered and incomplete volumes,
forgetting in their greed that they were dishonouring the sages,
and laying up for themselves certain calamity. Why then sacrifice
so much for such trifling gain? How much better a due observance
of time honoured custom ensuring, as it would, a flow of prosperity,
continuous and everlasting as the waves of the eastern sea?
Ye merchants and shopkeepers know that in heaven, as on earth,
written words are esteemed precious as the jade, and whatever is
marked therewith must not be cast aside like stones and tiles.
For happiness honours distinction and old age may be one and 211
received by a proper respect for written paper.
71
P.T.0.
94
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