to tell him
that a man knows how to spend a million pieces of money in marrying
off his daughter, but knows not how to spend a hundred thousand in
bringing up his child. If this great Governor of Chih-li has much
wisdom, he will stay long within his province. I have just heard for the
hundredth time the saying of Confucius, "Birth is not a beginning, nor
is death an end." In my despair I said deep down within my breast, "I
am sure it will not be an end for thee, O Mother-in-law. Thou wilt go to
the River of Souls talking, talking, always talking-- but the Gods will
be good to me. Thou must pass before me, and I will not hasten so as
to overtake thee on the way." I beg thy pardon, dear one. I lack
respect to thy Most Honourable Parent, but my soul is sore tried and I
can find no quite.

I am,
Thy Wife.

6
My Dear One,
"The five worst infirmities that afflict the female are indocility,
discontent, slander, jealousy, and silliness. The worst of them all, and
the parent of the other four, is silliness. "Does that not sound familiar
to thine ears? Life is serious here in thine ancestral home since we
have taken to ourselves a daughter-in-law. The written word for trouble
is two women beneath one rooftree, and I greatly fear that the wise
man who invented writing had knowledge that cost him dear. Perhaps
he, too, had a daughter-in-law.

Yet, with it all, Li-ti is such a child. Ah, I see thee smile. Thou sayest
she is only three years less in age than I; yet, thou seest, I have had
the honour of living a year by the side of thy Most August Mother and
have acquired much knowledge from the very fountain-head of
wisdom. Perchance Li-ti also will become a sage, if-- she be not
gathered to her ancestors before her allotted time, which depends
upon the strength of body and mind which they may have willed her.

To me she is the light of this old palace. She is the true spirit of
laughter, and, "When the happy laugh, the Gods rejoice." She is
continually in disgrace with thine Honourable Mother, and now the
Elder One has decided that both she and Mah-li, thy sister, shall
learn a text from the sage Confucius each day for penance. They are
now in the inner courtyard, studying the six shadows which attend the
six virtues. I can hear them saying over and over to each other, "Love
of goodness without the will to learn casts the shadow called
foolishness--" now a laugh-- then again they begin, "Love of
knowledge without the will