Even among kindred deference is due to the aged;
And food for the old and young should be different.

In epistolary correspondence be concise, speaking to the point;

And in verbal answers be discreet and explicit.

When a person is unclean, he bethinks himself of the bath;

When one takes hold of hot things, he desires something cooling.

The asses and the mules, the calves and the cows,
When they are frightened, leap about and flee away.
Thieves and robbers are to be punished with death ;
Rebels and deserters are to be pursued and taken.

Years fly away like arrows, one pushing on another ; The sun shines brightly through his whole course, The planetarium where it is suspended constantly revolves;

And the bright moon also repeats her revolutions. To support fire, add fuel; so cultivate the root of happiness,

And

you will obtain eternal peace and endless felicity. Let your step be even, and keep your head erect ; And looking up or down, maintain the respectful demeanor of courts and temples;

Let your dress be complete, and your deportment sedate,

Sustaining a modest, retiring, unobtrusive manner.

EXAMPLES OF FILIAL DUTY.*

In the Chow dynasty lived Chung Yew, named also Tszeloo, who, because his family was poor, usually ate herbs and coarse pulse, and he also went more than a hundred lí to procure rice for his parents.

"Alas!' said Tszeloo, although I was a scholar, yet my parents were poor, and how was I to nourish them?' Exhausted, he traveled the long road, and cheerfully brought the rice for his parents. Pleasantly he endured the toil, and exerted his utmost strength without any commendation. At that time, his lot in life was hard and unfortunate, and he little expected the official honors he afterwards enjoyed. But when his parents were dead and he had become rich and honorable, enjoying all the luxuries of life, then he was unhappy and discontented; not cheerful, as in the days of his poverty, nor happy, as when he ministered to his parents' wants."

*From the "TWENTY-FOUR EXAMPLES OF FILIAL DUTY"--one of a class of works styled "juvenile" or "toy books.” — CHI NESE REPOSITORY, VOL. VI.

During the Han dynasty lived Tung Yung, whose family was so very poor that when his father died, he was obliged to sell himself in order to procure money to bury his remains.

"Tung could not endure to behold his father's bones lie exposed, but to bury them he had not the requisite means. He saw that his household goods were not sufficient, and he said, 'This little body, what is the use of it? If I sell my body, I can redeem it again; and thus can bury my father, who will not be dishonored.' His filial piety moved Heaven to direct a female, in a superhuman form, to come and help him in fulfilling his engagement; she wove three hundred pieces of silk, and thus procured the redemption of a man of truly filial heart."

In the time of the Han dynasty lived Keäng Kih, who, when young, lost his father, and afterwards lived alone with his mother. Times of commotion arising, which caused them much distress, he took his mother on his back, and fled.

"Passing over the hills and wading through the streams, he carried his mother with much difficulty. It was during a year of famine, when all the inhabitants of the land were in confusion from the scarcity of food, and engagements were frequent between the soldiers and banditti, and signal fires were lighted on the high hills. Keäng was fearful lest the robbers should meet him on the road and plunder him, and they did seize him, regardless of his cries and tears, and were about to rob him; but when they knew of his filial piety and affection

to his mother, they permitted him to proceed. While journeying, he was too poor to procure any food beyond the bare necessaries of life; and because he could not provide comforts and delicacies for his mother, he was grieved as if it had been his fault. He went and hired himself to labor; with the greatest diligence he adhered to his purpose to sustain his mother; and soon the stranger obtained an abundance of food and clothing. His success caused his mother to rejoice, and they were both delighted, she forgetting her former hardships in the joy that filled her bosom."

In the Han dynasty lived Hwang Heäng, who, when only nine years old, lost his mother, whom he loved so ardently and remembered so strongly that all the villagers praised his filial duty. He was employed in the severest toil, and served his father with entire obedience.

"When the heat of summer made it difficult to sleep quietly, the lad knew what would be for the comfort of his venerated parent. Taking a fan, he slowly waved it about the silken curtains, and the cool air expanding, enveloped and filled the pillows and bed. In winter, when the snow threatened to crush in the roof, and the fierce wind shook the fences, and the cold penetrated to the bones, making it hazardous to unloose the girdle, then Heäng warmed his father's bed, that he might not fear, because of the cold, to enter the 'place of dreams.'"

During the Han dynasty lived Ting-Lan, whose parents both died when he was young, before he could obey

and support them; and he reflected that for all the trouble and anxiety he had caused them, no recompense had yet been given. He then carved wooden images of his parents, and served them as if they had been alive. "He remembers his parents, but cannot see them; he carved wood to represent their persons. He believes that their spirits are now the same as when they were alive, and his guileless heart trusts that their manes have entered the carved images. He cannot rest until he has made their statues, so strong is his desire to nourish and reverence them. He now reveres them, although dead, as if they were alive; and hopes that they will condescend to inhabit his ancestral hall."

During the Han dynasty lived Tsae Shun, whose father died when he was young, and who served his mother very dutifully. It happened that, during the troubles of the times, when Wang-mang was plotting to usurp the throne, there were years of scarcity, in which he could not procure food, and Tsae was compelled to gather mulberries, which he assorted, putting them into two vessels.

"Anxious and fearful, he seeks for food; unremitting in his exertions, he takes up his baskets, and wends hist way to the distant forest, and penetrated into the thicket, where he finds many mulberry trees. His hunger now has something to satisfy its cravings; he also remembers his mother, and that he must carry some to her. The ripe and unripe berries he does not put together, but divides them, so that mother and son can each have