loving nature, to see her husband delighting in a smoke, took advantage of his absence from home to prepare a little surprise ; and so his nasty black pipe was, with a world of trouble, carefully scraped, cleaned, and varnished with furniture oil. Alas ! this pipe was a relic of bachelor days, a masterpiece of colouring, and mellowed by age, till its fumes were as delicate as the ripened tones of an old violin.
There is then among the Chinese the same after-dinner companionship in smoking which in our own country strengthens the social ties ; but with this important difference, that in China the ladies smoke. Among people of higher rank the water-pipe is filled and brought in by a servant, who, waiting till a pause occurs in conversation, adroitly inserts the stem into her mistress's mouth. This custom, to an " outer barbarian," may at first seem strange, and doubly so, perhaps, when he perceives with dismay the swallowed smoke issuing during animated talk from the ladies' nostrils and mouth, belched forth in jets, as if to add force and piquancy to the conversation.
READING FOR HONOURS.
THE rule in China, from the earliest times, has been to confer rank and honours of the highest grade only l on men distinguished for rare genius or exceptional literary attainments. By the system of periodical 1 literary examinations established in the chief cities of the Empire, even the poorest student may win his way to a proud position in the government of his country. Who can tell how much the stability of an empire, that for countless generations has remained entire, may owe to such a system as this! Through its agency a healthy influence is diffused among the poorest of the people, binding them more closely to the governing classes, and giving all a common interest in the maintenance of order and peace. Of course, in so large a community many unsuccessful candidates for literary distinction are to be found. Such men as these support themselves by teaching ; perhaps they may have passed the lower degrees, and from failing health, incapacity, or old age, can get no further in their career. They, however, meet with universal respect, and are enabled to earn a livelihood by training others for the race. This has been the lot of the venerable scholar in the photograph. He is convinced that there must have been some mistake, or some underhand influences operating in the examinations to which he has been subjected from time to time. He still studies, however, and hopes against hope, that even yet, in his declining years, he will pass with credit to himself and his family, and hold his head with the best. This end attained, lie proposes to institute new and improved regulations to suppress corruption in the examinations, and to give men such as he a fair chance of rising to the level, from which nothing but an iniquitous combination has hitherto barred his approach. We rarely find a Chinaman who has not some knowledge of reading, and few parents neglect to devote a portion of their earnings to their son's education, in the hope that his capacities may be so developed as one day to elevate him from obscurity to renown.
THE TOILET.
THE ladies of China are skilled in the use of cosmetics; but their ways are not as our ways. No well regulated Chinese beauty would be guilty of washing her face ; it must be polished with a hot damp cloth ; when this process is over, the surface is ready to receive its coating of finely prepared white powder. This powder is made up in the solid form of a small disc, neatly fitted into an ornamental paper box, a slight pressure reducing it to a condition fit for use, when it is carefully rubbed into the cheeks, after which the smooth whitened skin is tinted with carmine. The carmine is a Chinese manufacture, and is sold in small books, each page of which is covered with a coating of the dye, and wears a glistening brown-like surface. The- lady has only to moisten her finger, and apply it to this pigment, to obtain a beautiful flesh tint, resembling that produced by the coal-dye sold in crystals in this country and designed for a similar use. This she lays artistically over her powdered cheeks. Their mode of removing hair from the face is ingenious. With two fine silken cords arranged upon the fingers so as to yield to the form of the face, and at the same time act as pincers, the lady trims her eyebrows to the proper breadth, and uproots stray hairs from the cheeks, the neck, and even the forehead, if she wishes the latter to appear large and full.
The coiffure presents a variety of styles differing in the different provinces. Hereafter I shall supply some examples of these, which in every instance are most elaborate, and achieved by painstaking manipulation. Many of the patterns of the female headdress are very picturesque and might furnish our own countrywomen with hints. Before the hair is built up into shape it is stiffened with a vegetable gum contained in wooden shavings of a resinous tree, and which exudes therefrom on soaking them in water. The powder, carmine, comb, hairbrush, tooth-brush, tongue scraper, gum, hairpins, and all the other appliances of the feminine toilet, are preserved in a small brass or silver bound dressing-case carrying a mirror within the lid. I must not omit to inform my reader that false hair and even wigs are in common use among Chinese ladies. When the long black tresses have become thin and short, an artificial chignon can be had for a trifle from the barber close by ; or, if required for a lady of taste, she will have it made to order by a professional artist of her own sex.
