Watching Three Years by a Mother's Grave.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume xx, Issue 6637, 29 March 1893, Page 4

Watching Three Years by a Mother's Grave.

A correspondent of a Shanghai journal, writing from Kiukiang, on the Yangse, mentions that he has ssen a sight which is not often seen even in China. This is a man who has taken a vow to watch threo years at his mother's grave. The lady died at the end of laat year and was buried, aa usual, on the side of a neighboring hill ia the family burying place. When the remains had been consigned to th« earth the son declared that he would not leave the grave for three years, and bo far he has been true to his word. The neighbors took upon themselves to provide for his w*nts, and asubscription list was ntartßd, ten piculs rice being contributed by his relations and those who knew him. Families take turns in preparing his food and bringing it to him. Others brought straw and poles and made a rude hut for him large enough to contain himself and the grave of his mother. The writer saw him when he had already been at hia self-appointed task nearly seven months, and says he will not soon forget the sight and smell. Around the hut there were three well-kept graves, those of his father, brother, and wife, and iaaide that of his mother. During the three years of his vigil he does not wash himself, the straw upon which he lies is not removed, he does not change his clothes till thetime hasexpired, hedoesnotcomeout of the little place for any cause whatever, he speaks to zione, except, perhaps, occasionally, and then only briefly, to his nearest relatives. He spends the time muttering prayers and burning incense at fche head of the tomb, along the length of which he is stretched. The hut is not high enough to allow him to stand upright, and ia only a few feet longer than himself. "One can faintly imagine the foulness of such a den, and the condition of an unshorn human being after such an existence ; what ho will be like at the end of the summer I cannot conceive. It does not seem possible that a man should be able to live through three years of such horrors — none but a Chinaman could do it." If he survives the three years he will be highly honored, the officials will go in state and receive him and report the matter to the throne, and he will receive from the Emperor's hand a board containing four characters lauding his virtue. He m;iy also receive some small official preferment, and will thus be well provided for. The natives say that, although he is nlor.e on the hillside among the graves, no ghosts or devils will interfere with him, and poisonous snakes will not come near him Some of the people were not quite sure what hia motives were ; some said, significantly, that he knew what ho was doing— there was not very much to do, and at the end of threo years lying at the grave, being fed by his friends, ho would likely enough find a comfortable support for the rest of his natural life.