"At the door of each hong are sign-boards, upon which are painted in gold, or coloured letters, a motto instead of a name, and what the shop offers for sale.
"I do not think," Mr. Graham then said, drawing, as he spoke, a little representation of a sign-board out of his pocket-book, "that I ever showed you this."
"Oh no!" both the children answered. "And what do those characters mean?"
On another piece of paper Mr. Graham pointed out to them the following interpretation:
| Teën | |
| Yee | |
| Shun | |
| Fung | Poo |
| Seih | Tian |
| Tëen | |
"The three first large characters, which form the motto, may be taken to signify that 'Heaven favours the prudent.' The other smaller characters designate the nature of the business, a cushion and matting manufactory; the last character, without which no sign-board is complete, meaning shop or factory."
"I shall like to see these sign-boards very much when we get to China," Sybil said. "I should think they must make the streets look very pretty."
A TWO-WHEELED CART.
Mr. Graham had illustrated several things which he had told the children by some pictures which he had brought on board with him.