w, who did?"

"Assuredly it is your place of commerce," I replied cheerfully,
preparing to bring forward an argument, which in our country never fails
to shake the most stubborn, "yet bend your eyes to the fact that at no
great distance away there stands another and a more alluring stall of
merchandise where--"

"Go to it then!" screamed the abandoned outcast, leaping over his
counter and shouting aloud in a frenzy of uncontrollable rage. "Clear
out, or I'll bend my feet--" but concluding at this point that some
private calumny from which he was doubtless suffering was disturbing
his mind to so great an extent that there was little likelihood of
our bringing the transaction to a profitable end, I left the shop
immediately but with befitting dignity.

With a fell-founded assurance that you will now be acquiring a really
precise and bird's-eye-like insight into practically all phases of this
country.

KONG HO.

LETTER VIII

Concerning the wisdom of the sublime Wei Chung and its
application to the ordinary problems of existence. The
meeting of three, hitherto unknown to each other, about a
wayside inn, and their various manners of conducting the
enterprise.

VENERATED SIRE,--You will doubtless remember the behaviour of the aged
philosopher Wei Chung, when commanded by the broad-minded emperor of his
time to reveal the hidden sources of his illimitable knowledge, so
that all might freely acquire, and the race thereby become raised to a
position of unparalleled excellence. Taking the well-disposed sovereign
familiarly by the arm, Wei Chung led him to the mouth of his cave in the
forest, and, standing by his side, bade him reflect with open eyes for
a short space of time, and then express aloud what he had seen. "Nothing
of grave import," declared the emperor when the period was accomplished;
"only the trees shaken by the breeze." "It is enough," replied Wei
Chung. "What, to the adroitly-balanced mind, does such a sight
reveal?" "That it is certainly a windy day," exclaimed the omnipotent
triumphantly, for although admittedly divine, he yet lacked the
philosopher's discrimination. "On the contrary," replied the sage
coldly, "that is the natural pronouncement of the rankly superficial. To
the highly-trained intellect it conveys the more subtle truth that the
wind affects the trees, and not the trees affect the wind. For upwards
of seventy years this one has daily stood at the door of his cave for
a br