. A'Chu and other stories. and the trackless desert of Gobi on the west,seemed to encircle in sacred inclosure what is worthwhile of the whole earth. Within this favored circlehave lived the great and wise kings and the mightywarriors who founded and developed this vast empire. Here in this favored land lived and died Con-fucius, Chinas greatest, wisest philosopher. Here, also,lived Mencius, his most illustrious pupil. Beforethese two names, of the wisest of her wise men,a great nation of 400,000,000 people bow in rever-ence. These, the boy thought, were the truly nobleand wise, whose teaching
. A'Chu and other stories. and the trackless desert of Gobi on the west,seemed to encircle in sacred inclosure what is worthwhile of the whole earth. Within this favored circlehave lived the great and wise kings and the mightywarriors who founded and developed this vast empire. Here in this favored land lived and died Con-fucius, Chinas greatest, wisest philosopher. Here, also,lived Mencius, his most illustrious pupil. Beforethese two names, of the wisest of her wise men,a great nation of 400,000,000 people bow in rever-ence. These, the boy thought, were the truly nobleand wise, whose teachings had made China the greatnation she had been for twenty-five centuries, fromtheir day to his own time. One of the first stories Shiu Meng heard at schoolwas of this Confucius, who lived B. c. 500. When aboy, Confucius set his heart on learning. Like KingSolomon of the Bible, he prized wisdom above every-thing else. Like Solomon, and like every boy who hasbeen willing to work for it, he acquired great wis-dom and WAITING TO BE TAUGHT 168 AChu and Other Stories Confucius was pointed to by the teacher as themodel of schoolboys. To study what Confucius wroteand to be able to repeat his sayings accurately wasthe teachers idea of learning. To understand andlive according to the precepts of Confucius was,likewise, the highest wisdom. Unfortunately, veryfew masters of Shiu Mengs days had seen a Bibleor heard of Jesus the Christ. They firmly believedConfucius to be the wisest and best teacher who hadever lived upon the earth. Under such influences and teaching as have beendescribed, Chang Shiu Meng grew up. He was asfull of ambition and hope as a young man could bewhose highest ideal of life was to copy, in outwardconduct at least, the life of men dead long resolved to perform every duty taught by thewise men, and to follow strictly the social customs ofhis times, which his nation regarded as sacred. Thiscourse, he thought, would bring him a quiet andpeaceful life, an
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