that he was decoyed
    and held prisoner in a lodging-house for ransom. 
    A gambling den has been raided and the ivory
    dominoes are shown in court. 
The prisoners are stoically sullen.  The odor of them
    fills the room.

Above them sit the two men, raised on the pedestal
    of the law, judging their fellows. 
I turn to the man beside me, waiting his case. 
“Tell me” I ask “of these men, which is the better
    judge?”
He answers carefully. 
“The Chinaman is cleverer by half.  He sees where
    the other is blind.  But Chinese magistrates are
    bought, and this one sells himself too cheap.” 
“And the other?” I ask again. 
“A good man, and quite honest.  You see he doesn’t
    care.”

The judges put their heads together.  They are civilization
    and they are very grave. 
What, I wonder, is civilization?

  Shanghai