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Show oo CHINESE LANTERNS. China is a deep-souled country, with the outward insouciance and simplicity simplic-ity of a child. China without its lanterns lan-terns swinging from pagoda and temple, tem-ple, from stall and curving bridge, would be an Egypt without its Sphinx. Light Peking with arc lamps and it is Peking no longer. Dispatch a Chinese voyager over miles of Iris fields, across miniature bridges innumerable, in-numerable, with an unimaginative oil lamp, and he is robbed of half his charm. A large' part of thq wonder of the East is expressed1 by Chinese lanterns. Luminous like wavering blots of shifting color they sway gracefully, rocked ' by the merest whisper of a breeze. The light itself in such a covering, bedoiries a matter of conjecture. Inside thaC crinkled shape some flame must burn, and yet It is not truly visible nor wholly invisible. in-visible. Dim blue, then mlst green, then vivid yellow, it changes like a fairy kaleidoscope. A mirage, it draws the onlooker with the sheer mystery of its being. But in civilized Europe we have outgrown the fatal fascination of such imaginative folly. The inventor of Chinese lanterns must have been a genius in the art thaf conceals art. Out of painter paper, pa-per, stretched upon bamboo rings, lie evolved something which has withstood with-stood the test of numberless ages. A triumphant vindication of his skill, i the lantern of the Chinese no! only serves to illuminate their crooked streets, but stands for their n-it'oual character. The true Oriental, like his lantern, undoubtedly possesses some center of illumination In his strn':c person. Bui it is ever shifting, mule multifarious guises and garment", until un-til the seeker is half persuaded "f its tola) absence A Chinese lantern Is made of crinkled colored paper, artistically artis-tically arranged in collapsible folds, like the side of a bellows or accordion. These lanterns are either globular or cylindrical in shape and are generally decorated with flowers or other designs. de-signs. The papor on those lanterns intended in-tended for use and not mere ornament is always thoroughly oiled and the globe attached to a short stick or staff, for the purpose of carrying. As the streets in China and Japan are practically unllghted it Is imperative impera-tive for persons moving abroad after dark to carry lanterns. While Oxford Ox-ford street and Piccadilly cast a red glow on the sky.- far away in the scented dusk of an Eastern night squat quaint figures with bobbing lanterns, lan-terns, and pattering steps are hurrying hurry-ing homeward along the streets of benevolence and righteousness. London Lon-don filnhn. |