Christmas Cards and Gift-Books.
Christmas is pre-eminently the season of universal good-will, and the custom of conveying seasonable greetings by means of the attractive Christmas card is every year becoming more general. Amongst the publishers of these mementoes Messrs. Raphael Tuck and Sons take front rank, and the specimen box of cards, calendars, story-books, and illustrated texts, recently received from them, affords ample proof that the variety and artistic excellence which have always characterised their productions are well maintained this year. Some of the cards are veritable works of art, and deserve more than the temporary appreciation usually accorded to such; but the palm for novelty, both in design and treatment, must be accorded to the calendars, many of which are most original in conception, and all are daintily and tastefully produced.—For years past we have been accustomed to look for a Christmas book from Mr. Andrew Lang, and this season he has edited an edition of "The Arabian Nights Entertainments," which Messrs. Longmans have published in a charming cover, and with a number of clever illustrations by Mr. H. J. Ford.—Another suitable gift-book for children is "His Big Opportunity" (Hodder and Stoughton), a brightly written story by Amy Le Feuvre; whilst for young people what more inspiriting and interesting work could be presented to them than the life-story of the pioneer missionary, "Mackay of Uganda," of whose biography a new illustrated edition has just been issued by the same publishers.—We have also received the current yearly volumes of our contemporaries, Good Words and The Sunday Magazine (Isbister & Co.). These would both form valuable additions to any Sunday-school library, and are also admirably adapted for use as prizes or presents.
(From a Photograph.)
THE LAUGHING GOD OF CHINA.
Compensation.
An Irishman being bound over to keep the peace against all the Queen's subjects, said, "Then Heaven help the first foreigner I meet!" We are reminded of this when we see people civility itself to a good servant they are afraid of losing, or to the strongest-willed person in their home, and then relieving their pent-up feelings by being rude to the rest of the family.
Laughter and War.
"Have you any gods around here?" inquired an English traveller in rural China. "Oh, yes," replied a venerable Celestial; "the three Pure Ones, the God of the Fields, and the Goddess of Mercy." "My old friend, I am afraid your gods are not a few." "Foreign teacher," said the old man, "verily, verily, our gods are ten thousand and thousands of thousands." Some are of stone, others of wood, clay, or bronze. One may be purchased for a farthing, another will cost £200. The Laughing God in our illustration is a representation in coarse pottery of Quantecong, supposed to be the first emperor. There are laughing Buddhas for sale, and some few images of beneficent mien; but the great horde are intended to inspire awe or terror. The second illustration is a well-executed terra-cotta figure of a deified warrior. The drawn sword and beard are similar to those of Kwante, the God of War, regarded as the head of the military department in China. In 1,600 state temples dedicated to him the mandarins worship once a month, and in thousands of smaller temples he is honoured with sacrifices of sheep and oxen. His worshippers believe that he was a general, who just about the time that the Prince of Peace came to this world in great humility made the enemies of China to tremble. The elevation or manufacture of gods is a simple affair. The keeper of an idol shop collects the heads, limbs, and trunk that he has moulded out of mud, unites them in one ill-proportioned figure, slips a frog, snake, lizard, or centipede into the hole in the back, and the idol is ready for dedication and worship! The calm, colossal Buddha at Peking is seventy feet high, but it can only witness to a blind feeling after God.