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Show CHINA'S SEASON AUTOCRAT. When the Emperor .ays It Is Summer, It Is Summer. The emperor has some strange duties. du-ties. One of these is the ordering of the seasons, says the Youth's Companion. Compan-ion. It Is summer in America when the sun warms the earth, and not till then, but in China it is summer when the emperor says it is summer. As soon as the emperor declares that summer has come everybody in China puts off winter win-ter clothing and arrays himself in summer sum-mer garb, no matter what his feelings say on the subject. All domestic arrangements ar-rangements are made to suit the season, sea-son, as proclaimed by the emperor, although al-though they may not suit the individual individ-ual at all. The nearest approach to the Chinese custom of ordering the seasons Is the practice observed in France in all public buildings. There it is winter win-ter on and after Oct. 1. Fires are then lighted in all government offices and the servants exchange their' white summer sum-mer waistcoats for the thicker and darker ones of winter. At that date the public libraries are closed at 4 and In the streets the sellers of roasted chestnuts make their appearance. In official France It is winter, no matter what the weather may say. |