Child life in Chinese homes . ITINERANT TOYMAN. 6o CHILD LIFE IN CHINESE HOMES. deportment, the greater approbation will he receive from his elders. Chinese boys are fond of asking riddles, and some of the juvenile prodigiesof ancient days are.» represented as hav- ing been very cleverin composing theseenigmas. Many ofthem it is not pos-sible to give inEnghsh, becausethey are puns uponChinese words; andothers relate tosome peculiarity inthe way in whicha character iswritten, or to someresemblance itbears to anothercharacter vdth adifferent will give twoof the latter :— A joking Siu-t
Child life in Chinese homes . ITINERANT TOYMAN. 6o CHILD LIFE IN CHINESE HOMES. deportment, the greater approbation will he receive from his elders. Chinese boys are fond of asking riddles, and some of the juvenile prodigiesof ancient days are.» represented as hav- ing been very cleverin composing theseenigmas. Many ofthem it is not pos-sible to give inEnghsh, becausethey are puns uponChinese words; andothers relate tosome peculiarity inthe way in whicha character iswritten, or to someresemblance itbears to anothercharacter vdth adifferent will give twoof the latter :— A joking Siu-tsai, or Bachelorof Arts, asked aBuddhist priest• (wKo- as a classare usually igno-rant), How do youshaven head which is the. ITINEEANT BELLEB OF SWEETMEATS. write bald pate? alluding to thedistinctive mark of the Buddhist priesthood, CHINESE BOYS AT FLAY. 61 That is quite easy, was the unexpected reply. I take theBachelor of Arts tail and turn it round. ^ Bachelor of Arts. ^ Bald-head. Another, somewhat similar in form to many popular Englishriddles, is the following: What is that which raises its head in embarrassment and lowersit in wealth? The character H. In wealth ^ it is at the foot, in embarrass-ment ^ at the head of the character of which it forms a part. Others of a different kind are more readily understood in England,so I will mention several. What is the fire that has no smoke, and the water that hasno fish? A glow-worms fire has no smoke, and well-water has no fish. Mention the name of an object with two mouths, which travelsby night and not by day. A lantern. What is that of which we have too much, and that of whichwe desire more? A summer day is too long (on account of the great heat), andwe
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectchildren, bookyear188
