HABITUAL OPIUM-SMOKERS.
"Yes; and because they do grow upon us. Everything to which we very much accustom ourselves grows into a habit; therefore it is so very important for both Chinese and English, for both grown-up and little people, to cultivate good habits. And more especially is this important in the case of young people, because so many of our habits, which remain with us and influence our whole after-life, are formed in our childish days."
"And do people really sell their children?"
"They do, indeed; and some children are so filial that they will even sell themselves for the good of their parents. There is very little that a Chinaman will not do for a parent. One of their superstitions is that if a father or mother be ill, and the child should cut away some of its own flesh to mix in the parent's medicine, a cure would be effected; and children have been known to cut pieces, for this purpose, out of their own arms."
"What would happen," Sybil asked, "if a child were to do anything very dreadful to a parent in China?"
"If a son kill a parent, he is put to death, his house is torn down, his nearest neighbours are punished, and his schoolmaster is put to death; the magistrate of the district would also suffer, and the governor of the province would go down in rank."
"How unfair!" Leonard exclaimed, "when only one person did it."
"Why does all that happen?" Sybil asked.
"To show how great the man's sin is. The schoolmaster is punished because it is thought that he did not bring up his pupil properly. Of course, it is very unfair, but the Chinese are often very cruel in their chastisments, and many criminals prefer death to some of the other punishments. A great many also suffer capital punishment; sometimes as many as ten thousand people in a year."