"You have had the good fortune of starting in life as a graduate,"
explained Tzu-tsing as he smiled, "and yet are not aware of the saying
uttered by some one of old: that a centipede even when dead does not lie
stiff. (These families) may, according to your version, not be up to the
prosperity of former years, but, compared with the family of an ordinary
official, their condition anyhow presents a difference. Of late the
number of the inmates has, day by day, been on the increase; their
affairs have become daily more numerous; of masters and servants, high
and low, who live in ease and respectability very many there are; but of
those who exercise any forethought, or make any provision, there is not
even one. In their daily wants, their extravagances, and their
expenditure, they are also unable to adapt themselves to circumstances
and practise economy; (so that though) the present external framework
may not have suffered any considerable collapse, their purses have
anyhow begun to feel an exhausting process! But this is a mere trifle.
There is another more serious matter. Would any one ever believe that in
such families of official status, in a clan of education and culture,
the sons and grandsons of the present age would after all be each
(succeeding) generation below the standard of the former?"

Yue-ts'un, having listened to these remarks, observed: "How ever can it
be possible that families of such education and refinement can observe
any system of training and nurture which is not excellent? Concerning
the other branches, I am not in a position to say anything; but
restricting myself to the two mansions of Jung and Ning, they are those
in which, above all others, the education of their children is
methodical."

"I was just now alluding to none other than these two establishments,"
Tzu-hsing observed with a sigh; "but let me tell you all. In days of