1870.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
187 
TOYS <k ©MIL 
Most boys and girls have a liking for pets. Some keep 
birds, others have rabbits, and now and then we see one 
who keeps Guinea Pigs for pets. We do not think that 
they are as interesting as some other animals, but they 
are quite harmless, and very young children can take care 
of them without danger of being scratched or bitten. 
One funny thing about the Guinea Pig is, that it is not a 
pig and did not come from Guinea. It is much nearer a 
rat than a pig, and has been called by some one " a rat 
without a tail." It was not brought from Guinea, which 
is in Afriea, but from someplace in South America. The 
tame ones are variously marked with white, black, and 
brownish patches. They are easily raised if kept in a 
bos where they will not get too cold or be damp. They 
like all kinds of vegetables, and they very seldom drink. 
While the Guinea Pigs are very tame, they are also very 
stupid, and do not seem to have much fun themselves or 
make much for others. They multiply rapidly, having 
six or eight young at a time. Whatever pet a boy or girl 
keeps, it should be attended to regularly. We have no 
right to place an animal in confinement, where it is pre- 
vented from seeking its own food, and then neglect to 
provide for its wants. 
9£am1>lcs in Oiiiia — " I*Ig- Xails." 
BT "CARLETON"." 
There is always something new and strange to be seen 
in China. It may be old to the Chinese, but it is new to 
lis. While among that strange people, I was always see- 
ing something queer or ludicrous. As I walked the 
streets, my eyes were always wide open ; I was on the 
broad grin, and am pretty sure that if my young friends 
had been there, they would have stared and grinned with 
me. I was interested and amused very much by the 
traveling barbers, who went along the streets with their 
shops on their backs. 
The Chinese shave not only their faces, but their heads 
as well, leaving only a tuft of hair upon the crown, which 
is allowed to grow long and is braided into a tail. They 
think a great deal of their tails. 
It is curious to learn how they came to wear them. 
Several hundred years ago the inhabitants of China wore 
their hair as we do, but there was war between China 
and Tartary, and the Chinese got the worst of it and were 
conquered. When the first Tarlar king of the present 
dynasty came to the throne, he determined to humble the 
pride of the Chinese. He began in 1644, by ordering 
every body to shave off all the hair, except a tuft on the 
crown ; that being the way he wore his own hair. There 
were a great many proud and high-spirited gentlemen in 
China who would not obey the command, and the result 
was, they had their heads chopped off. It was quite the 
fashion in Ihosc days to cut. off heads. King Charles I. 
of England lost his in 1040— not because he would not 
shave, but because he conspired against the liberties of 
the people. It is rather an uncomfortable thing for a 
man to lose his head. The Chinese thought so, and con- 
cluded to shave and braid their hair into a pig-tail, al- 
though it was an act of degradation. They felt it keenly, 
but as the years rolled on, they forgot the humiliation and 
began to like the fashion. When a thing is in fashion- 
no matter how uncomfortable it may be— even if it is as 
ugly as the great bundles of horse-hair and the chignons 
and braids which the ladies wear now in our country, 
there is nothing humiliating about it; but there are not 
many young ladies, or old ones either, who wonld like to 
be seen in the streets or at Church wearing their hair as 
-was the fashion three or four years ago. A fashionable 
bonnet of 1SG5 would be frightful now. 
As soon as the pig-tails became fashionable, the young 
gb'ndcmeii of China tried to get up the longest, neatest, 
and glossiest tails possible. They cultivated them just 
as young gentlemen in the United States, and almost ev- 
erywhere else, cultivate their whiskers and moustache, 
greasing, combing, brushing, and fin- 
gering them all the time ; and just as 
young ladies, and old ones too, exercise 
their ingenuity and skill in frizzling, 
puffing, plaiting, crimping, and braid- 
ing. The Chinese take as much com- 
fort in dressing their hair as we do, 
only their style is somewhat different 
from ours. The barbers are all licensed 
by government, and if one starts a shop 
without a permit, he will have it un- 
ceremoniously kicked over by a police- 
man and find himself in prison. The 
outfit of a barber's shop is not very ex- 
tensive. He has a wash-stand made of 
bamboo sticks with a bowl in the top. 
Above the bowl, and attached to the 
upright stick, is a small dish filled with 
hot water heated by a lamp, and there 
is also a soap box. The barber carries 
around a stool upon which the custom- 
er takes his seat. Beneath the seat 
are two or three small drawers, in which he carries his 
razor and towels. If New York had as many bar- 
bers in proportion to its population as there are in 
Canton, there would be seven or eight thousand of 
them ! They seem to be always employed. They get 
very small pay for a shave, but as the people shave every 
day, they earn a living, notwithstanding there are so 
many of them in the business. They save all the hair, 
some of which is used for medicine ! " For Medicine!"'' 
No wonder you open your eyes wide. The Chinese use 
all sorts of things in medicine. They pound up dogs' 
skulls into fine powder, mix in pieces of dry snake skin, 
parings of nails and human hair. They use all of these 
things and a great many more in medicine. The hair of 
the Chinese is always straight. I never saw a Chinaman 
with curly hair; but curly hair they think is an excellent 
medicine, and if a negro goes to China, he must look 
sharp, or the barbers will shave off all his hair to sell to 
the doctors 1 The hair which is not. wanted for medicine 
is used for fertilizing the ground. They save everything 
that can give fertility to the soil, and as men are con- 
stantly going through the streets carrying buckets filled 
with the sweepings of the streets and the collections from 
out-houses, the air is filled with bad smells. The Chinese 
do not mind it, however, and the barber goes on with his 
shaving, — the people keep on eating at 
the street restaurants without thinking 
of their noses. After the barber shaves 
his customer, the pig-tail is attended 
to. The old braid is shaken out, the 
hair combed and oiled, and rebraided. 
The Chinese take great pride in hav- 
ing a long tail. To be in fashion, it 
must dangle almost to the ground, and 
if their own hair is not long enough, 
they do as the ladies of this country are 
in the habit of doing, braid in other 
hair, and then a skein of fine black 
silk at the end, as if it was the snap- 
per to a whip. Instead of being a sign 
of disgrace as in former years, the pig- 
tail is now not only fashionable, but it 
is a mark of honor and distinction. 
They will consider it an insult if you 
speak disrespectfully of their cue, or if 
you handle it in a familiar manner, 
When they are about their work, they 
coil it upon the crown of their head ; 
but when they are in the parlor or dining-room, it 
would be an unpardonable breach of politeness were they 
to appear with it coiled upon the head. They are as par- 
ticular about letting it dangle down the back as a lady in 
this country is about putting on her gloves before going 
into company. It would show a want of respect not 
only for himself, but for you, were a Chinaman to keep 
his cue coiled upon his crown in your company. In China 
no man wears a beard until he is sixty years old. Custom 
does not permit it. It is very fortunate for some young 
gentlemen who arc growing a few stray hairs on their 
upper lip, and who often look into the glass to see how 
they are getting on, and are constantly feeling of them, 
as iT trying to make them grow faster, that, they live in 
this country, for in China no man wears a moustache un- 
til he is a grandfather! The Chinese have no use for 
wigs. An amusing story is told of an Englishman who 
was bald-headed, and was shaved by a Chinese barber. 
The Englishman was accustomed to wear a wig, but he 
had it for the moment in his hat. The barber shaved 
him. When the barber's back was turned, he placed it 
on his head, and the Chinaman, upon turning around and 
discovering such a growth of hair on a head ho had just, 
shaved, thought he bad the "Old Flalry " for a customer 1 
Ha ran as fast as he could to got away, Worn one. who the 
next moment might have him in his clutches and carry 
him off to the place where, as the Chinese believe, men 
who have not done just right in this world, are pounded 
to pieces in morters, or are compelled to clasp red hot 
iron pillars, or are hung up b}' their tails to poles, or are 
obliged to sit down on stools filled with sharp nails. 
The Englishman had a hearty laugh, but the barber and 
rfll the people trembled with fear and kept out of his way. 
In a town in England was a barber whose sign read, 
Theobald, Hair-Dresser. Some mischievous fellow 
painted out the O, and the astonished barber found him- 
self The bald Hair-Dresser. 
What did a blind wood-sawer take to restore his sight ? 
He took his horse and saw. 
"Mister," said Bob to the showman, "won't thatBoa 
Constrictor bite me?"— "No, my little boy, he allers 
swallers his wittles whole." 
A large number of illustrated rebuses, charades, connn 
drums and mathematical puzzles, have been sent to ns 
by correspondents. The limited space afforded by the 
columns especially belonging to the boys and girls, will for- 
bid the early appearance of some that may be accepted. 
No. 379. Illustrated Rebus. — Contains very good advice. 
No. 3S0. 
Illustrated Rebus.— Equally true with the preceding. 
Answers to fl*rotoleiais and. I*«zzles. 
The problem in Liquid measure, No. 372, in March, has 
called out an unusual number of answers, the most of 
which were correct. Some accomplished the division in 
an unnecessarily roundabout way, and others required the 
use of another vessel. The correct answer was given 
last month. We must repeat that we cannot publish a 
problem unless an answer is furnished. Some are going 
about which are mere catches and have no answer. 
No. 373. This is a clever subdivision of words. It is 
a very old epitaph upon a woman who sold earthen ware, 
beginning; " Beneath this stone lies Katharine Gray, 
Changed from a busy life to lifeless clay." 
No. 376. One way that the digits may be placed is; 
SIC 
3 5 7 
4 2 
No. 377. Fools only contend against a force that can- 
not be overcome. Fools on L Y. C on 10-Dcy-G A in 
stay, >1 ce-T-hat-can, knot-B over Come. 
No. 378, The man had (V> geese. 
No. 370. 5 cattle at $10=$T>0. 1 nog $3. and 94 sheep 
at 50 ^=$47 All amounting to $100. 
The following have sent correct answer*, Where a 
