Peeps Into China; Or, The Missionary's Children

by E. C. Phillips

CHE-YIN.

"And he says he is sure he saw his friend Che-Yin among the mourners. You know, father, Che-Yin is really a great friend of Leonard's, though he is so much older than himself, and now he is taking great trouble to teach him to play on the musical instrument which he plays so well himself. I believe if Leonard were going to stay longer here he would really learn to play it quite well. Is it not kind of Che-Yin? But I must not interrupt you any more," Sybil went on, "and this is so interesting. Leonard said he wondered so much what could be happening once when he heard a tremendous noise, and saw people rushing out into the streets screaming."

"I think I know what that meant," was the missionary's answer. "On the day of burial the relatives weep and lament very loudly. They carry a long white streamer, called a soul-cloth, to the ancestral hall, for the spirit to say 'Good-bye' to its ancestors. At three or four o'clock in the morning all decorations, that have been put up in front of the door, are taken down, and a banquet is made ready, of which the spirit is invited to partake. You remember I told you that they believe one spirit is buried with the body. Well, some kind of paper is now again burnt, while the spirit is asked to accompany the body, and the tablet and portrait of the dead man are put in a sedan-chair by his eldest son, over the top of which is a streamer of red satin, on which his name and titles are written.

"Distant relations remain standing out in the streets; but I expect what Leonard saw was people rushing out of the house, dreadfully frightened, for fear that after all the day might not be lucky, and the spirit should be vexed, and send trouble to them, in consequence.

"As the coffin is brought out offerings are also again presented to the spirit. Two men walk first, carrying large lanterns, on which are written the name, title, and age of the man who has died. Then come two other men with a gong, which they beat from time to time."

"Leonard heard that."

"Then follow musicians, and behind these some men walk with flags, others with red boards, on which are inscribed, in golden letters, the titles of the ancestors of the deceased."

"Then Leonard saw some gold canopies and sedan-chairs."

"Offerings made to the dead are carried under gilded canopies, and these canopies also follow the ancestral tablets. The portrait of the dead man is in one sedan-chair, and his wooden tablet in another.