n by
a man." Of course, he at once rushed to the rescue. He "took up the
door and he opened his hand." He "snatched up the dog and threw him at
a brick." The brick bit his hand and he left the scene "beating on a
horn and blowing on a drum."

Tongue twisters are as common in Chinese as in English, and are equally
appreciated by the children. From the nature of such rhymes, however,
it is impossible to translate them into any other language.

In one of these children's songs, a cake-seller informs the public in
stentorian tones that his wares will restore sight to the blind and that

They cure the deaf and heal the lame,
And preserve the teeth of the aged dame.

They will further cause hair to grow on a bald head and give courage to
a henpecked husband. A girl who has been whipped by her mother mutters
to herself how she would love and serve a husband if she only had one,
even going to the extent of calling that much-despised mother-in-law
her mother, and when overheard by her irate parent and asked what she
was saying, she answers:

I was saying the beans are boiling nice
And it's just about time to add the rice.

These are rather an indication of good cheer on the part of the
children than lack of filial affection. A parent must be cruel indeed
to make a girl willing to give up her mother for a mother-in-law.

Another style of verses comes under the head of pure nonsense rhymes.
They are wholly without sense and I am not sure they are good nonsense.
They are popular, however, with the children, and critics may say what
they will, but the children are the last court of appeal in case of
nursery rhymes. Let me give one:

There's a cow on the mountain, the old saying goes,
On her legs are four feet, on her feet are eight toes.
Her tail is behind on the end of her back,
And her head is in front on the end of her neck.

The Chinese nursery is well provided with rhymes pertaining to certain
portions of the body. They have rhymes to repeat when they play with
the five fingers, and others when they pull the toes; rhymes when they
take hold of the knee and expect the child to refrain from laughing, no
matter how much its knee is tickled; rhymes which correspond to all our
face and sense; rhymes where the forehead represents the door and the
five senses various other things, ending, of course, by tickling the
child's neck.

All of these have called forth rhymes among Chinese c