for many a day."

"Last year, when at Chin Ling," Yue-ts'un continued with a smile, "some
one recommended me as resident tutor to the school in the Chen mansion;
and when I moved into it I saw for myself the state of things. Who would
ever think that that household was grand and luxurious to such a degree!
But they are an affluent family, and withal full of propriety, so that a
school like this was of course not one easy to obtain. The pupil,
however, was, it is true, a young tyro, but far more troublesome to
teach than a candidate for the examination of graduate of the second
degree. Were I to enter into details, you would indeed have a laugh. 'I
must needs,' he explained, 'have the company of two girls in my studies
to enable me to read at all, and to keep likewise my brain clear.
Otherwise, if left to myself, my head gets all in a muddle.' Time after
time, he further expounded to his young attendants, how extremely
honourable and extremely pure were the two words representing woman,
that they are more valuable and precious than the auspicious animal, the
felicitous bird, rare flowers and uncommon plants. 'You may not' (he was
wont to say), 'on any account heedlessly utter them, you set of foul
mouths and filthy tongues! these two words are of the utmost import!
Whenever you have occasion to allude to them, you must, before you can
do so with impunity, take pure water and scented tea and rinse your
mouths. In the event of any slip of the tongue, I shall at once have
your teeth extracted, and your eyes gouged out.' His obstinacy and
waywardness are, in every respect, out of the common. After he was
allowed to leave school, and to return home, he became, at the sight of
the young ladies, so tractable, gentle, sharp, and polite, transformed,
in fact, like one of them. And though, for this reason, his father has
punished him on more than one occasion, by giving him a sound thrashing,
such as brought him to the verge of death, he cannot however change.