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198 CURIOSITIES OF MUSIC. |
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musical progress is almost unknown; where goodness and love are taught in the most beautiful writings, and where greater cruelties are practised than anywhere else on earth. They differ from us on almost every point. We mourn in black, they in white; we respect crowns as badges of honor, they the boots; we build solid walls, they make them hollow; we pull a boat, they push it; we place the orchestra in front of the stage; they behind it; with u> children fly kites, with them, men; we scratch the head when puzzled, they, the antipodes of it, etc, etc.*
A nation so strange cannot be judged flippantly or speedily; only a short time since we held the Japanese in the rank of the j-cmi-civilized; now they are making giant strides on the highway of
discreet, respectful, exact and prudent woman. When the boy can carry his hand to his mouth he is weaned, and taught to use his right hand in eating; at the age of six, teach him the simplest numbers, and the names of most important parts of the globe ; at the age of seven separate him from his si'ters, and let him neither eat nor sit with them ; at the age of eight teach him the rules of politeness and civility, which he must observe when enteiing or leaving a house, or when he is with his elders; at nine teach him the calendar ; at ten send him to the public school and give him no more cotton-stuffed garments, they will be too warm for his age. The school-master is to give him knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic. At thirteen, lee him study music, that he may sing poetry, and that the wise maxims contained in the verses, be engraven on his memory. At fifteen he is to learn archery and riding. As for girls, when they have attained the age of ten years, they are not to be allowed to go out of doors; teach them to speak sweetly, to have an affable air, and to understand all housahcld duties." Book of ancient rites quoted in Pere du Halde's Descrip. d« la Chin. T. 2, p. 438 |
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• Alnsworth, p. 102. |
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