BIRTH OF CONFUCIUS
According to the most trustworthy accounts Confucius was born in the village of Ch'ieh in the present province of Shantung in B.C. 551. The only child of his parents, he lost his father when he was but three years old, and was brought up by his mother, who was left with very little money. To quote the philosopher's own words, he could from the first "do whatever his heart prompted, and his mind was set on learning from the age of fifteen."
FIG. 25.—PORTRAIT OF CONFUCIUS.
(Univers Pittoresque.)
Before he was twenty he had attracted the general attention of his neighbours through the skill with which he rendered fertile districts which had long been considered barren. He was equally successful in the breeding of flocks, and the land under his care supported thousands of animals, so that the farmers who before could scarcely eke out a miserable subsistence, now found themselves rich and well-to-do.
QUOTATION FROM CONFUCIUS
FIG. 26.—A FUNERAL PROCESSION IN CHINA.