Directory_and_Chronicle_1842 — Page 455

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Hiustrations of Men and Phings in China

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needle with many colored silk : if they succeeded, they considered them- selves as having obtained skill.” The custom here alluded to is now some times observed, though the ceremonies have as much or more reference to superstitions connected with the supposed transit of the two constellations as to skill in embroidery or needlework.

11. The men of the Tsin [dynasty] called their worship of the gods at the end of the year lah, whence the twelfth month is now called láh; the epitaph of the emperor Tsin Chihwang was ching', therefore the name of the first month was ordered ever after to be read 'ching,

and not ching'.

Meats used at this sacrifice were dried in the north wind, (a mode of pre- serving animal fond still employed,) and called láh.-This change of sound exhibits the veneration of the Chinese for their sovereigns, for a character used by the emperor for his own name must not be lightly employed by his subjects; ching' was Chihwang's designation, and this tone was the Eching, the first month, which was henceforward to be sounded like ching, and not like ching. The present dynasty have altered the forms of several characters.

same as

TIE

12.

When the 'ashes' (down) of the cat-tail reed fly about, then winter has come; when the leaves of the Dryandra (wú tung) fall, then autumn is known to be here.

13. To burn oil to eke out the day is [a phrase for] toiling labo- riously night and day; to make noon as night is to turn the day upside down.

14. An unsuccessful student who has not attained his degree says, "I have vainly wasted the years and months;" conversation with a friend is called small talk about cold and heat (i. e. the weather).

15. It is detestable to see how mankind become chilly and warın; it is odious to see the world act so loving and so distant.

"This sentence speaks of the vulgar world, who always adulate the rich, and lightly regard the poor; who accommodate themselves to the powerful, and stick close to the strong, looking down upon the poor and ignoble. How odious! How detestable !''

16. The springtime of life will never return, wherefore we stu- dents should begrudge every moinent; as our days and months are gradually waning, so we, who mean to be scholars, must study while waiting for the dawn.

•

"The great Yo did not value a foot of kingly power, but begrudged an inch of time. If a sage like the great Yu did so,' says Tá Chu, how ought we common men, to lament the waste of a single hairbreadth of time ?'"* The example of my lord Chau, author of the Book of Rites, who studied in the morning watch, is adduced for the enmulation of students