Such an offer was un-heard-of. People doubtless were dazzled by its splendor, as many as came in view of it. But as no newspapers existed there, excepting at Pekin and some of the treaty ports the news did not spread far. Only faint and vague rumors reached the inland towns. Hence, comparatively few candidates presented themselves and these hailed, for the most part, from the maritime provinces. In fact, parents were not over-eager to send their sons away so far, for so long a time, and to a land unknown to them, the inhabitants of which they heard and believed were barbarians. A cousin of mine, however, who was in business then at Shanghai, thought differently; and was not deterred by any such considerations. He came home with glowing accounts of the new movement; and so painted the golden prospects of the successful candidate that he persuaded my mother to let me go. I was then twelve years old; my father had died three years before and my mother had assumed the sole charge of her three sons. But she was not going to force me to go, whether willing or unwilling; and so left the matter to me to decide. I was more or less adventurous in disposition. A chance to see the world was just what I wanted. I said yes without hesitation. My mother, if she had any misgivings, wisely kept them to herself; and, like a brave woman who has resolved to deny herself for the good of her child, she set to work to prepare me for the journey to Shanghai. For a whole month, I reveled at the sight of new clothes that were made for me. Friends and relatives made presents of food for the voyage, sweetmeats predominating. At last, after bidding farewell to all my uncles, aunts and cousins, with others of my kith and kin, I paid my last respects to my mother in the conventional way. I did not embrace her and kiss her. O no! that would have been un-Chinese and undignified. What I actually did was to bow my head four times to the ground upon my knees. She tried to appear cheerful, but I could see that her eyes were moistened with tears. I did not think much of it then, but I remembered it in after-time. Ah! a mother’s love is strong wherever it is found. She gave me some pocket-money and bade me be a good boy and write often. With those words ringing in my ears and the memory of that sad face fresh in my mind, I walked briskly by the side of my cousin down to the wharf at which the junk was moored, which vessel, of a style well-known by picture to American boys and girls, was to carry us to Hongkong, whence we expected to take steamer for Shanghai. We sailed down the narrow river with a stiff breeze in our favor, after offerings had been made to the river-god, and the gong had announced to the world that “we were off.”