OCR Text |
Show j QUEUE IS SIGN OF BONDAGE Remarkable That Chinese Have Come to Look Upon It With a Degree De-gree of Pride. If the Germans had won the, war, would they have made us wear pigtails pig-tails in order that they might have something to yank us around by. And would they have applied their efficiency effi-ciency to a new system of punishment, perhaps with a different number of yanks for each offense against our conquering con-quering masters? The zeal with which patriotic Chinamen cultivate the queues that they consider a sort of national na-tional distinction, and the fact that those Chinamen in other countries who discard them are forever considered outcasts is indeed paradoxical. For the pigtail is a sign of bondage, the earmark of a conquered race. Centuries Cen-turies ago ancient China had a civilization civili-zation all its own. But on every side she was surrounded by warrior hordes that coveted the riches and luxuries of the more advanced people and harassed them continually. Finally overcome by a barbarian host, the Chinese were reduced to a. state of servility. One of the exactions of the conquerors was that the men grow long queues, by which, as they flew by on their horses, they actually took hold of the helpless creatures to swing them before them to the saddle or to cut off their heads. |