it is proper for me to obey, with a tender younger brother whom I must teach; and an intelligent teacher is there from whom I am required to learn. How have I leisure to go a-rambling with you?'

Confucius said, 'I have in my carriage thirty-two chess-men; what do you say to having a game together?' The lad answered, 'If the emperor love gaming, the empire will not be governed; if the nobles love play, the government will be impeded; if scholars love it, learning and investigation will be lost and thrown by ; if the lower classes are fond of gambling, they will utterly lose the support of their families; if servants and slaves love to game, they will get a cudgeling; if farmers love it, they miss the time for ploughing and sowing: for these reasons I shall not play with you.'

Confucius rejoined, 'I wish to have you go with me, and fully equalize the empire: what do you think of this?' The lad replied, 'The empire cannot be equalized; here are high hills, there are lakes and rivers; either there are princes and nobles, or there are slaves and servants. If the high hills be leveled, the birds and beasts will have no resort; if the rivers and lakes be filled up, the fishes and the turtles will have nowhere to go; do away with kings and nobles, and the common people will have much dispute about right and wrong; obliterate slaves and servants, and who will there be to serve the prince! If the empire be so vast and unsettled, how can it be equalized?'

Confucius again asked, ' Can you tell, under the whole sky, what fire has no smoke, what water no fish; what hill has no stones, what tree no branches; what man has no wife, what woman no husband; what cow has no calf,

what mare no colt; what cock has no hen, what hen no cock; what constitutes an excellent man, and what an inferior man; what is that which has not enough, and what that which has an overplus; what city is without a market, and who is the man without a style?'

The boy replied, "A glowworm's fire has no smoke, and well-water no fish; a mound of earth has no stones, and a rotten tree no branches; genii have no wives, and fairies no husbands; earthen cows have no calves, nor wooden mares any colts; lonely cocks have no hens, and widowed hens no cocks; he who is worthy is an excellent man, and a fool is an inferior man; a winter's day is not long enough, and a summer's day is too long; the imperial city has no market, and little folks have no style.'

Confucius inquiring said, 'Do you know what are the connecting bonds between heaven and earth, and what is the beginning and ending of the dual powers? What is left, and what is right; what is out, and what is in ; who is father, and who is mother; who is husband, and who is wife? [Do you know] where the wind comes from, and from whence the rain? From whence the clouds issue, and the dew arises? And for how many tens of thousands of miles the sky and earth go parallel?'

The youth answering said, 'Nine multiplied nine times makes eighty-one, which is the controlling bond of heaven and earth; eight multiplied into nine makes seventy-two, the beginning and end of the dual powers. Heaven is father, and earth is mother; the sun is husband, and the moon is wife; east is left, and west is right; without is out, and inside is in; the winds come from Tsang-wu, and the rains proceed from wastes and wilds; the clouds

issue from the hills, and the dew rises from the ground. Sky and earth go parallel for ten thousand times ten thousand miles, and the four points of the compass have each their station.'

Confucius asking, said, 'Which do you say is the nearest relation, father and mother, or husband and wife?' The boy responded, 'One's parents are near; husband and wife are not [so] near.'

Confucius rejoined, 'While husband and wife are alive, they sleep under the same coverlet ; when they are dead, they lie in the same grave; how, then, can you say that they are not near?' The boy replied, 'A man without a wife is like a carriage without a wheel; if there be no wheel, another one is made, for he can doubtless get a new one; so, if one's wife die, he seeks again, for he also can obtain a new one. The daughter of a worthy family must certainly marry an honorable husband; a house having ten rooms always has a plate and a ridgepole; three windows and six lattices do not give the light of a single door; the whole host of stars with all their sparkling brilliancy do not equal the splendor of the solitary moon: the affection of a father and mother—alas, if it be once lost!'

Confucius sighing, said, 'How clever! how worthy!' The boy, asking the sage, said, 'You have just been giving me questions, which I have answered one by one; I now wish to seek information; will the teacher in one sentence afford me some plain instruction? I shall be much gratified if my request be not rejected.' He then said, 'Why is it that mallards and ducks are able to swim; how is it that wild geese and cranes sing; and why are firs and pines green through the winter?' Con

fucius replied, 'Mallards and ducks can swim because their feet are broad; wild geese and cranes can sing because they have long necks; firs and pines remain green throughout the winter, because they have strong hearts.' The youth rejoined, 'Not so; fishes and turtles can swim ; is it because they all have broad feet? Frogs and toads can sing; is it because their necks are long? The green bamboo keeps fresh in winter ; is it on account of its strong heart?’*

Again interrogating, he said, 'How many stars are there altogether in the sky?' Confucius replied, 'At this time inquire about the earth; how can we converse about the sky with certainty?' The boy said, 'Then how many houses in all are there on the earth?' The sage answered, 'Come, now, speak about something that's before our eyes; why must you converse about heaven and earth? The lad resumed, 'Well, speak about what's before our eyes-how many hairs are there in your eyebrows?'

Confucius smiled, but did not answer, and turning round to his disciples, called them and said, 'This boy is to be feared; for it is easy to see that the subsequent man will not be like the child.' He then got into his carriage and rode off."

*The bamboo grows like the grasses, with joints, but hollow, without any heart at all.

HARMONY BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE.*

If the relations of MANKIND are not esteemed, man cannot be rendered perfect (for the discharge of his duties). Of the ties that bind MANKIND together, having disposed of (those of) FATHER and MOTHER, ELDER and YOUNGER BROTHERS, we now come to treat of HUSBAND and WIFE. In this world the HUSBANDS and WIVES that live harmoniously and happy, are very many; and those who are not harmonious and happy, are very few. The root and fountain of this want of HARMONY, generally proceeds from the HUSBAND not being intelligent and upright; whether it is that he despises his wife on account of the poverty of her origin, or dislikes his wife for her ugly face, or gets angry with her for her natural being foolish and stupid; seeing then (that for some reason or other) she does not come up to your ideas, you get to be at variance with her; so much so, that right or wrong,

*From the CHUN KA PO-The Transmitted Family Pearls. Translated by the late Robert Thom, Esq., while English Consul at Ningpo, China, for a work which he prepared, called the "Chinese Speaker." Ningpo, 1846.

[The words and parts of sentences in parenthesis, are such as are needed to give a smooth rendering in English.]