A CELESTIAL REBUKE,

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 340, 6 February 1889, Page 4

A CELESTIAL REBUKE,

One of the attaches of the Chinese Legation has had his photograph taken, and has beeu presenting it to friends and acquaintances — ladies mostly — \\ ith inscriptions in Chinese characters upon the back. One young lady has had the photograph on the mantel in the drawing-room ever since sho got it, and she takes pains to show it to everyone who calls. She does not tell them, however, that sho received il only after persistent appeals to the young Chinaman. Perhaps she may after this :—: — The other day, it appeal's, a gentleman called ab the house of her father, who has long resided in China and knows the language of the country well. To him she turned for a translation of the characters on the back of the photograph, 'for,' said she, 'my friend, the Chinaman, wouldn't tell mo what they meant, and lie acted so strangely about the whole matter, I am curious to know what they say. 3 The gentleman glanced at the writing, and then at the girl. Then he broke out :— ' I would rather not.' ' Why ?' ' Well, they '—he hesitated. The girl kept urging him. His protests had the effect of maldng her more persistent. But at last he yielded, and here is what ho read :—: — •In the Celestial empire, where pagans toil, it is not considered becoming in a young maiden to ask for fcho picture of a young man, and such as would do so would be punished for immodesty ; but in this land, where civilisation is at its height, young ladies permit themselves to do things which their heathen sisters would blush even to mention.' This is a true story so far as the reading of the gentleman is concerned. Whether the reading of the characters really meant j what ho said they did, is quite another question, j