they can't afford land for farm-houses or out-buildings or even for fences. Many a farm is not over half an acre in extent, and that has to support a family of six or eight."
"Phew! We had over two hundred acres in Virginia!"
"And we had a hundred and twenty at home; and father said he sometimes felt cramped up, because he didn't own right to the top of the mountain. If it wasn't that John Chinaman can live on next to nothing, he would starve to death."
"But certainly all the people are not so poor."
"There are some rich people in the cities, but the majority merely live from hand to mouth. The richest man of all is Earl Li Hung Chang, one of the viceroys, who visited the United States some years ago. He is a millionaire many times over, and a very powerful political leader in the bargain. They say he is the only viceroy who enjoys the confidence of the dowager empress and the young emperor."
"It's a wonder he doesn't make a move to enlighten his people, and get them to take up Western ideas."
