never been born the entire matter might have been brought to a very
different conclusion. Alas! only one among the many printed leaves
which made reference to the venture contained any words of friendship
or encouragement. This benevolent exception was sent forth from a city
in the extreme Northern Province of the Empire, and contained many
inspiring though delicately guarded messages of hope for the one to
whom they gracefully alluded as 'this undoubtedly youthful, but
nevertheless, distinctly promising writer of books.' While admitting
that altogether they found the production undeniably tedious, they
claimed to have discovered indications of an obvious talent, and
therefore they unhesitatingly counselled the person in question to
take courage at the prospect of a moderate competency which was
certainly within his grasp if he restrained his somewhat
over-ambitious impulses and closely observed the simple subjects and
manner of expression of their own Chang Chow, whose 'Lines to a
Wayside Chrysanthemum,' 'Mongolians who Have,' and several other
composed pieces, they then set forth. Although it became plain that
the writer of this amiably devised notice was, like this incapable
person, entirely unacquainted with the masterpieces of Lo Kuan Chang,
yet the indisputable fact remained that, entirely on its merit, the
work had been greeted with undoubted enthusiasm, so that after
purchasing many examples of the refined printed leaf containing it,
this person sat far into the night continually reading over the one
unprejudiced and discriminating expression.

"All the other printed leaves displayed a complete absence of good
taste in dealing with the matter. One boldly asserted that the entire
circumstance was the outcome of a foolish jest or wager on the part of
a person who possessed a million taels; another predicted that it was
a cunning and elaborately thought-out method of obtaining the