Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 November 1894 — AT HIS MOTHER'S GRAVE. [ARTICLE]

AT HIS MOTHER'S GRAVE.

A Chinaman Vow, to Keep a Three Tea* Vigil Over the Spot, A correspondent writing from Shan* hi. China, tells of a singular sight, naf often seen in China, which he has wit■eased. This is a man who has taken a vow to watch three years at his mother’! grave. The lady died at the end of lasi year and was buried, as usual, on thi •ide of a neighboring hill in the family burying place When the remains hac been consigned to the earth the son declared that he would not leave th« Brave for three years. =md so far he la, been true to his Word. The neighbor* took upon themselves to provide for hn toftfcts, and a subscription list was started*. 133 pounds of rice being contribu'.ec by his relatives and those who knew bun. Families take turns in preparing his food and bringing it to him. Othet s brought straw and poles and made 1 rude hut for him large enough to eon.ain himself and the grave of his mother, ■ The writer saw hi'-- when he had ah ready been at his self-appointed task nearly seven months and says he wifi not soon forget the sight and smell. Around the hut there were three wellkept graves, those of his father, brothel and wife, and inside, that of his mother. During the three years of his vigil he does not wash himself, the straw upon which he lies is not removed, he does not change his clothes, until the tim< has expired, he does not come out o! the little place for any oause whatever, he speaks to none, except perhaps, occasionally, and then only briefly, to his nearest relatives. He spends the tim« muttering prayers .and burning incense at the head of the tomb, along th« length of which he is stretched. The hut is not high enough to allow him tc stand upright and is only a few feet longer than himself. “On® can faintly Imagine,” the writer says, “the foulnesi of such a den and the condition of suet an unshorn human being after such at existence; what he will be like at tin end of the summer I cannot conceive It does not seem possible that a man should be able to live through three years of such horrors—none but a Chinaman could do it.” If he survives til# three years he will be hignly honored the officials will go in state and receive him and report the matter to the throne, and he will receive from the Emperor’* hand a board containing four characters lauding his virtue. He may also receive some small official preferment, and will thus be provided for. The natives say that although he is alone on the hillside among the graves, no ghosts or devils will interfere with him tnd poisonous Bnakes will not com* near him.