The object of thus bringing in incidents from all these Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and other sources is that by catering to all classes the book may have wide distribution, and whatever the Confucianist may say, it must be admitted that the other religions have a strong hold upon the popular mind.
The last twenty-six illustrations in Vol. I represent various incidents in the life, history and employments of women.
The first of these is an ancient empress "weaving at night by her palace window."
Another represents a woman in her boat and we are told that, "leaving her oar she leisurely sang a song entitled, 'Plucking the Caltrops.'"
Another represents a woman "wearing a pomegranate-colored dress riding a pear-blossom colored horse." A peculiar combination to say the least.
The fisherman's wife is represented in her boat, "making her toilet at dawn using the water as a mirror." While we are assured also that the woman sitting upon her veranda "finds it very difficult to thread her needle by the pale light of the moon," which fact, few, I think, would question.
In one of the pictures "a beautiful maiden, in the bright moonlight, came beneath the trees." This is evidently contrary to Chinese ideas of propriety, for the Classic for girls tells us that a maiden should not go out at night except in company with a servant bearing a lantern. As it was bright moonlight, however, let us hope she was excusable.
This sauntering about in the court is not uncommon if we believe what the books say, for in the next picture we are told that:
As near the middle summer-house,
The maiden sauntered by,
Upon the jade pin in her hair
There lit a dragon-fly.
The next illustration represented the wife of the famous poet Ssu-Ma Hsiang-Ju in her husband's wine shop.