IX.] RIGHTS OF ELDEST SONS. 239 that the schoolmaster who instructed him in his youth shall be decapitated, and that the bones of his grandfathers shall be exhumed and scattered to the winds. It is also customary to close the ancestral hall of the clan to which the parricide belongs, that the spirits of his ancestors may be deprived of the homage of their posterity. The crime of parricide, however, is one of very rare occurrence in China. If the Chinese can lay claim to any virtue more than another, it is that of filial piety. When parents die, the eldest son stands in loco parentis to his younger brothers, and much respect is paid to him by them. He rebukes them when they are wayward, and encourages them in well-doing. In a case in which a younger brother had struck his elder brother's wife, it was decided by the elders of the village to which the parties belonged, that the elder brother should be permitted to flog the younger brother. This was done before them, and to make the punishment more degrading, the implement used was a broomstick. The Chinese say that a person who has been flogged with a broomstick will be for ever unlucky. In concluding this chapter, I may observe that it has always appeared to me that the children of Chinese in the upper walks of life are not, as a rule, robust. This circumstance is, I suppose, to be attributed in a great measure to the practice of polygamy; for among the lower orders of society, whom poverty compels to be monogamists, the children are vigorous and active. CHAPTER X. SERVANTS AND SLAVES. IN all Chinese families of respectability-to use the word in a limited sense there is a numerous array of domestic servants. The male servants in the family of an ordinary Chinese gentleman, include, as a rule, a porter, two or three waiting men or footmen, three or four sedan bearers, and others who are engaged in keeping the house in a state of general neatness and cleanliness. They are sometimes hired from month to month, and, in other instances, for a period of six months at wages ranging from three to four or five dollars a man per month. Board and lodging are of course included in the arrangement. In some cases, masters add to this clothing, and a sum of money for the purchase of tobacco and other minor "creature comforts." Testimonials as to past good conduct and general ability are, of course, required from such servants seeking an engagement. Cooks, and waiting servants in families of a lower grade in society, hire themselves for a period of twelve months at least, as do also agricultural labourers. For these servants there are what in England are termed statute hirings, which are held by the appointment of the local authorities in squares or other suitable places. At Canton the statute hirings take place from the first to the fifteenth day of the first month of the year, and are held in the quadrangle before the temple of Longevity. The square is on such occasions densely crowded with both masters and servants, and is enlivened by peep-shows and exhibitions of various kinds on a small scale. On one side may CHAP. X.] STREET HIRING OF WORK PEOPLE. 241 be found a cage which is concealed from view by an inclosure of matting, and contains a tiger or a panther. At another point a large basket containing a fretful porcupine, or a pig with six legs, or a duck with four feet attracts the curious; there are also soup, meat, tea, cake, and fruit stalls at which the hungry and faint are invited to regale themselves at the trifling expense of a few cash. There are always plenty of gambling booths at such gatherings, and many of the servants lose portions, if not the whole, of their small and hard-earned wages for the past year. It may be mentioned here that hiring in the open street is a matter of daily occurrence in Canton and in other large cities in Kwang-tung. In the Gow-chow-ka street of the Honam suburb of Canton, a large concourse of day labourers assemble every morning at five o'clock for the purpose of being hired. They remain in the street if unhired until noon is far advanced. In the courtyards of the temples, also, it is not unusual to see men standing idle at all hours of the day, because "no man hath hired them." In the Tai-ping-Kai, or Ta-tung-Kai street of the same suburb, journeymen carpenters and bricklayers may be seen waiting to be hired from five o'clock till nine A.M. The carpenters form a line on one side of the street, the bricklayers on the other. They are as a rule hired by public contractors. The wages which they receive are very small, being not more than a quarter of a dollar and three meals per diem to each man. The workmen, also, stipulate that at the time of the new, and again at the full moon, and also on the ninth and twenty-third days of each lunar month, extra food, or its equivalent in money shall be given to them. To return to the position of domestic servants in China. In the families of Chinese gentlemen, female servants generally, and male servants in some instances, are the property of their masters by purchase. In the houses of wealthy citizens, it is not unusual to find from twenty to thirty slaves attending upon a family. Even citizens in the humbler walks of life deem it necessary to have each a slave or two. The price of a slave varies, of course, according to age, health, strength, and general personal appearance. The average price is from fifty to one. hundred dollars, but in time of war, or revolution, poor parents, VOL. I. K |