If you seek for realities, your desires will be fulfilled: If you indulge undue expectations, your wishes will be frustrated.

Firmness of resolution, and steadiness of purpose, Will certainly secure to you official dignity. Among the royal cities of the elegant and great nation, Are the two capitals, the eastern and the western. Behind the one is the hill Măng; before it, the river Lŏ:

Around the other are the rapid Wei and the meandering King.

Numberless and intricate are the halls and palaces; Lofty and commanding are the towers and galleries. Within them are paintings of beasts and birds; And representations of deities and immortals. Splendid apartments are opened out on either side; And on parallel rows of pillars, pavilions are supported. There are placed the seats for the imperial banquets, And are heard the stringed and wind instruments of music.

Ascending the steps, and standing on the terraces, Is a waving sea of official caps, numerous as the stars. On the right, you pass to the "wide inner hall;" On the left is the entrance to the "splendid chamber." There are collected the most ancient books and records;

And crowds of illustrious men are always assembled.

The foundation of family aggrandizement lies in husbandry :

Give good attention, therefore, to sowing and to reap

Commence your labors on the southern fields;
For it is there we must first sow our grain.

Taxes are paid in ripe grain; tribute, in the first fruits. Let the laborers be encouraged and rewarded, the indolent held back, (or degraded) and the industrious brought forward.

Măng Ko (Mencius) esteemed plainness and simplicity;

And Yu, the historian, held firmly to rectitude. These nearly approached the golden mediumBeing laborious, humble, diligent, and moderate. Listen to what is said, and investigate the principles explained;

Examine men's conduct, that you may distinguish their characters;

Leave behind you none but purposes of good; And strive to act in such a manner as to command respect.

When satirized and admonished, examine yourself, And do this the more thoroughly when favors increase.

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Delight in reading and in studying the books found in the market;

When you find new ones, diligently treasure up their

contents.

Be very cautious of speaking hastily or rashly,

For even to the walls of your apartment ears may be attached.

Always provide plain food for your meals,

Thus pleasing the palate and satisfying the appetite. Those who feed luxuriously loathe rich viands, While the hungry disdain not dregs and husks.

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

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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.

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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.

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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