Page:The Chinese Boy and Girl.djvu/124

Rh man was leaning on a boy's  shoulder, the inscription to which said: "Any one is willing to assist a drunken man to return home."

"This," he went on as he changed his blocks, "is a picture of Li Pei, China's greatest poet. He lived more than a thousand years ago. This represents the closing scene in his life. He was crossing the river in a boat, and in a drunken effort to get the moon's reflection from the water, he fell overboard and was drowned." The child pointed to the sail at the same time, repeating the following:

I noticed a large number of boat scenes and induced the child to construct some of them for me, which he was quite willing to do, explaining them as he went as readily as our children would explain Old Mother Hubbard or the Old Woman who lived in her shoe, by seeing the illustrations.

Constructing one he repeated a verse somewhat like the following: