Neither is it possible for any man to be more honored than this emperor; for he is worshipped by his people like a god. He is called "The Son of Heaven," and "Ten Thousand Years;" yet he dies like every other child of earth. His sign is the dragon, and this is painted on his flags, a fit sign for one who, like Satan, makes himself a god. Yet the emperor is also styled "Father of his people," and to show that he feels like a father, when there is a famine or plague in the land, he shuts himself up in his palace to grieve for his people; and by this means he gets the love of his subjects. Once a year, too, this great emperor tries to encourage his people to be industrious by ploughing part of a field and sowing a little corn; and the empress sets an example to the women, by going once a year to feed silk worms and to wind the balls of silk. The emperor wears a yellow dress, and all his relations wear yellow girdles. But the relations of the emperor are not the most honorable people in the land: the most learned are the most honorable. Every one in China who wishes to be a great lord studies day and night. One man, that he might not fall asleep over his books, tied his long plaited tail of hair to the ceiling, and when his head nodded, his hair was pulled tight, and that woke him. But what is it the Chinese learn with so much pains? Chiefly the books of Confucius, and a few more; but in none of them is God made known: so that, with all his wisdom, the Chinaman is foolish still. The words of the Bible are true. "The world by wisdom knew not God." Yet to know God is better than to know all beside. There is a great hall in every town where all the men who wish to be counted learned meet together once a year. They are desired to write, and then to show what they have written; and then those who have written well, and without a mistake, have an honorable title given to them; and they are allowed to write another year in another greater hall; and at last the most learned are made mandarins. What is a mandarin? He is a ruler over a town, and is counted a great man. The most learned of the mandarins are made the emperor's counsellors. There are only three of them, and they are the greatest men in all China, next to the emperor. There are many poor men who study hard in hopes to be one of these three. This is the greatest honor a Chinaman can obtain. But a Christian can obtain a far greater, even the honor of a crown and a throne in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming. The mandarins are all of the religion of Confucius, and despise the poor who worship Buddha. ANIMALS AND TREES.--Once there were lions in China, but they have all been killed; there are still bears and tigers in the mountains and forests on the borders of the land. There are small wild-cats, which are caught and fastened in cages, and then killed and cooked. There are tame cats, too, with soft hair and hanging ears, which are kept by ladies as pets.