"The world by wisdom knew not God." Yet to know God is better than to
know all beside.

There is a great hall in every town where all the men who wish to be
counted learned meet together once a year. They are desired to write, and
then to show what they have written; and then those who have written
well, and without a mistake, have an honorable title given to them; and
they are allowed to write another year in another greater hall; and at
last the most learned are made mandarins.

What is a mandarin? He is a ruler over a town, and is counted a great
man. The most learned of the mandarins are made the emperor's
counsellors. There are only three of them, and they are the greatest men
in all China, next to the emperor.

There are many poor men who study hard in hopes to be one of these three.

This is the greatest honor a Chinaman can obtain. But a Christian can
obtain a far greater, even the honor of a crown and a throne in the
presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming.

The mandarins are all of the religion of Confucius, and despise the poor
who worship Buddha.

ANIMALS AND TREES.--Once there were lions in China, but they have all
been killed; there are still bears and tigers in the mountains and
forests on the borders of the land.

There are small wild-cats, which are caught and fastened in cages, and