TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

By The Princess Der Ling

First Lady In Waiting To The Empress Dowager

 TO MY BELOVED FATHER LORD YU KENG

FOREWORD

THE author of the following narrative has peculiar qualifications forher task. She is a daughter of Lord Yu Keng, a member of the ManchuWhite Banner Corps, and one of the most advanced and progressive Chineseofficials of his generation. Lord Yu Keng entered the army when veryyoung, and served in the Taiping rebellion and the Formosan war withFrance, and as Vice Minister of War during the China-Japan war in 1895. Later he was Minister to Japan, which post he quitted in 1898 to becomePresident of the Tsung-li-yamen (Chinese Foreign Office). In 1899 he wasappointed Minister to France, where he remained four years. At a periodwhen the Chinese Government was extremely conservative and reactionary, Lord Yu Keng labored indefatigably for reform. He was instrumentalin reorganizing China's postal service on modern lines, but failed inefforts to revise the revenue system and modernize the army and navy, from being ahead of his times. He died in 1905. The progressive spiritof Lord Yu Keng was shown in the education of his children. When itbecame known that his daughters were receiving a foreign education--thenan almost unheard--of proceeding among high Manchu officials-attemptswere made to impeach him as pro-foreign and revolutionary, but he wasnot deterred. His children got their early education in missionaryschools, and the daughters later attended a convent in France, wherethe author of this work finished her schooling and entered society. On returning to China, she became First Lady-in-Waiting to the EmpressDowager, and while serving at the Court in that capacity she receivedthe impressions which provide the subject-matter of this book. Her opportunity to observe and estimate the characteristics of theremarkable woman who ruled China for so long was unique, and hernarrative throws a new light on one of the most extraordinarypersonalities of modern times. While on leave from her duties to attendupon her father, who was fatally ill in Shanghai, Princess Der Ling tooka step which terminated connexion with the Chinese Court. This washer engagement to Mr. Thaddeus C. White, an American, to whom she wasmarried on May 21, 1907. Yielding to the urgent solicitation of friends, she consented to put some of her experiences into literary form, andthe following chronicle, in which the most famous of Chinese women, thecustoms and atmosphere of her Court are portrayed by an intimate of thesame race, is a result. 

THOMAS F. MILLARD. 

SHANGHAI, July 24, 1911. 

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

 I. INTRODUCTORY II. AT THE PALACE III. A PLAY AT THE COURT IV. A LUNCHEON WITH THE EMPRESS V. AN AUDIENCE WITH THE EMPRESS VI. IN ATTENDANCE ON HER MAJESTY VII. SOME INCIDENTS OF THE COURT VIII. THE COURT LADIES IX. THE EMPEROR KWANG HSU X. THE YOUNG EMPRESS XI. OUR COSTUMES XII. THE EMPRESS AND MRS. CONGER XIII. THE EMPRESS'S PORTRAIT XIV. THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY XV. THE MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL XVI. THE SUMMER PALACE XVII. THE AUDIENCE HALL XVIII. THE NEW YEAR FESTIVALS XIX. THE SEA PALACE XX. CONCLUSION

TWO YEARS IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY

MY father and mother, Lord and Lady Yu Keng, and family, together withour suite consisting of the First Secretary, Second Secretary, Navaland Military Attaches, Chancellors, their families, servants, etc. , --altogether fifty-five people, --arrived in Shanghai on January 2, 1903, on the S. S. "Annam" from Paris, where for four years my fatherhad been Chinese Minister. Our arrival was anything but pleasant, as therain came down in torrents, and we had the greatest difficulty gettingour numerous retinue landed and safely housed, not to mention the tonsof baggage that had to be looked after. We had found from previousexperience that none of our Legation people or servants could bedepended upon to do anything when travelling, in consequence of whichthe entire charge devolved upon my mother, who was without doubtthe genius of the party in arranging matters and straightening outdifficulties. 

When the launch from the steamer arrived at the jetty off the FrenchBund, we were met by the Shanghai Taotai (the highest official in thecity), the Shanghai Magistrate and numerous other officials, all dressedin their official robes. The Taotai told my father that he had preparedthe Tien Ho Gung (Temple of the Queen of Heaven) for us to reside induring our stay in Shanghai, but my father refused the offer, sayingthat he had telegraphed from Hong Kong and made all arrangements to goto the Hotel des Colonies in the French Concession. We had had previousexperience staying in this temple while on our way to Japan, where myfather went as Minister in 1895, and did not care to try it a secondtime. The building is very old and very much out of repair. It was abeautiful place in its prime, but had been allowed to go to rack andruin. The custom is that the magistrate has to find a place and supplythe food, etc. , for high officials when passing through, and it is notexactly the thing to refuse their kind offer, but my father was alwaysvery independent and politely declined all proffers of assistance. 

At last we did safely arrive in the Hotel des Colonies, where myfather found awaiting him two telegrams from the Imperial Palace. Thesetelegrams ordered my father to go to Peking at once, but, as the riverto Tientsin was frozen, it was out of the question for us to go by thatroute, and as my father was very old and quite ill at that time, infact constantly under the doctor's care, the only accessible way, viaChinwangtao, was equally out of the question, as it was a long and mosttedious journey and quite beyond his strength. In view of all thesedifficulties, he telegraphed that, after the ice had broken up in thePeiho River, we would come by the first steamer leaving Shanghai forTientsin. 

We left Shanghai on the 22d of February and arrived at Tientsin on the26th, and, as before, were met by the Customs Taotai of the port andnumerous other officials (the same as when we arrived at Shanghai). 

There is a very curious custom of reverence, which must be performed byall high officials on their return from abroad. Immediately upon landingon the shores of China, arrangements are made with the nearest Viceroyor Governor to receive their obeisance to Ching Sheng An (to worship theEmperor of Peace), a Taotai being considered of too low a rank for suchan honor. As soon as we arrived, Yuan Shih Kai, who was then Viceroy ofChihli Province at Tientsin, sent an official to my father to preparethe time and place for this function, which is an extremely prettyone. When arrangements had been made, both my father and Yuan Shih Kaidressed in their full ceremonial robes, which is the dragon long robe, with a reddish black three-quarter length coat over it, chao chu (amberbeads), hat with peacock feather and red coral button, and repaired atonce to the Wan Shou Kung (10, 000 years palace), which is especiallybuilt for functions of this kind, where they were met by a large numberof officials of the lower grades. At the back centre of this Temple, orPalace, stands a very long narrow table on which are placed the tabletsof the Emperor and Empress Dowager, on which is written, "Wan sway, wansway, wan wan sway" (10, 000 years times 10, 000 years times 10, 00010, 000 years). The Viceroy, or in this case Yuan Shih Kai, and the otherofficials arrived first. Yuan stood at the left side of this table andthe others arranged themselves in two diminishing lines starting fromthe front corners of the table. Soon afterward my father came and kneltdirectly in front of the centre of the table and said, "Ah ha ChingSheng An" (Your servant gives you greeting). After this ceremony wasover my father immediately arose and inquired after Their Majesties'health, and Yuan replied that they were quite well. This closed thefunction. 

We stayed in Tientsin for three days, arriving in Peking on thetwenty-ninth. My father's condition was much worse and he begged forfour months' leave of absence, in which to recuperate, which was grantedby Her Majesty, the Empress Dowager. As our beautiful mansion, which wehad built and furnished just before leaving for Paris, was burned duringthe Boxer Rising of 1900, entailing a loss of over taels 100, 000, werented and moved into a Chinese house. Our old house was not entirelynew. When we bought the place there was a very fine but old Chinesehouse, the palace of a Duke, standing on the ground, and by some cleverre-arrangement and building on, it was transformed into a beautifulforeign style house with all the fine hardwood carving of the old houseworked into it. By using the words "foreign style, " it is meant that, inso far as the Chinese house could be made to look like a foreign house, without tearing it down entirely, it was changed, that is the doorsand windows, passageways, furnishings, etc. , were foreign, but thearrangement of the house itself and courtyard was Chinese. This, likeall Chinese houses in Peking, was built in a very rambling fashion, and with the gardens, covered about ten acres of ground. We had justfinished furnishing it and moved in only four days when we left forParis; and it has always been a great sorrow to my family that we shouldlose this magnificent place, after having spent so much time and moneyin building and beautifying it. However, this is only one of the manytrials that a high official in China is called upon to bear. 

The houses in Peking are built in a very rambling fashion, covering alarge amount of ground, and our former house was no exception to therule. It had sixteen small houses, one story high, containing about 175rooms, arranged in quadrangles facing the courtyard, which went to makeup the whole; and so placed, that without having to actually go out ofdoors, you could go from one to the other by verandas built along thefront and enclosed in glass. My reader will wonder what possible usewe could make of all of these rooms; but what with our large family, numerous secretaries, Chinese writers, messengers, servants, mafoos(coachmen), and chair coolies, it was not a difficult task to use them. 

The gardens surrounding the houses were arranged in the Chinese way, with small lakes, stocked with gold fish, and in which the beautifullotus flower grew; crossed by bridges; large weeping willows along thebanks; and many different varieties of flowers in prettily arrangedflower beds, running along winding paths, which wound in and out betweenthe lakes. At the time we left for Paris, in the month of June, 1899, the gardens were a solid mass of flowers and foliage, and much admiredby all who saw them. 

As we now had no place of our own in Peking we did not know where togo, so, while we were at Tientsin, my father telegraphed to one of hisfriends to find him a house. After some little trouble one was secured, and it turned out to be a very famous place indeed. It was the housewhere Li Hung Chang signed the treaties with the Foreign Powers afterthe Boxer Rising and also where he died. We were the first people tolive there since the death of Li Hung Chang, as the Chinese people werevery superstitious and were afraid that, if they went there to live, something dreadful would happen to them. We soon made ourselves verycomfortable, and while we lived there, none of the dreadful thingshappened to us that all of our good friends told us would be visitedupon us if we dared to take this place. However, in view of our havinglost our place by fire, I am inclined to think that their fears werewell founded. 

The loss sustained by having this house burned we never recovered, as myfather, being an official of the Government, it would have been verybad form to have tried to recover this money, besides a possible lossof standing, as Government officials are supposed never to considerthemselves or families in the service of their country, and any privatelosses in the service must be borne without complaint. 

On the first of March, 1903, Prince Ching and his son, Prince Tsai Chen, came to see us and told us that Her Majesty wished to see my mother, mysister, and myself at once; that we should be at the Summer Palace (WanShou Shan) at six o'clock the following morning. My mother told PrinceChing that we had been wearing foreign clothes all these years, whileabroad, and had no suitable Manchu clothes to wear. He replied that hehad told Her Majesty all about us and also mentioned that he had seen usin European attire and she had said that it would not be necessary forus to wear Manchu costume to go to the Palace, that she would be gladto have us wear foreign clothes, as it would give her an opportunity tostudy the foreign way of dressing. Both my sister and myself had avery difficult time deciding what we should wear for this occasion;she wished to wear her pale blue velvet gown, as she thought that colorsuited her the best. My mother had always made us dress exactly alike, ever since we were little girls. I said that I preferred to wear my redvelvet gown, as I had the idea it might please Her Majesty. After a longdiscussion I had my way. We had lovely red hats trimmed with plumes andthe same color shoes, and stockings to match. My mother wore a lovelygown of sea green chiffon cloth embroidered with pale mauve iris andtrimmed with mauve velvet; she wore her large black velvet hat with longwhite plumes. 

As we lived in the central part of the city and the only means of travelwas by sedan chair and the distance from our house to the Palace wasabout thirty-six Chinese li (a three-hour ride), we had to start atthree o'clock in the morning, in order to be there at six. As this wasour first visit to the Palace, Prince Ching's message threw us into agreat state of excitement, and we were naturally anxious to look ourbest and to be there on time. It had been the dream of my life to go tothe Palace and see what it was like, and up to this time I had neverhad an opportunity, as most of my life had been spent out of Peking, --infact, out of China. Another reason why this chance had never comebefore was, that my father had never registered our names (my sister andmyself) in the Government book for the registration of births of Manchuchildren, in consequence of which the Empress Dowager did not know untilwe came back from Paris that Lord Yu Keng had any daughters. My fathertold me the reason why he did not put our names in this book was, thathe wished to give us the best education obtainable, and the only wayhe could do it was not to let the Empress Dowager know. Besides this, according to the Manchu custom, the daughters of all Manchu officialsof the second rank and above, after reaching the age of fourteen years, should go to the Palace, in order that the Emperor may select them forsecondary wives if he so desires, and my father had other plans andambitions for us. It was in this way that the late Empress Dowager wasselected by the Emperor Hsien Feng. 

 (comment: li is 1/3 mile or 1/2 km)

We started at three o'clock that morning in total darkness riding infour coolie sedan chairs, one on each side of the chair. In going such along distance it was necessary to have two relays of chair coolies. Thismeant twenty-four coolies for the three chairs, not counting an extracoolie for each chair who acted as a sort of head chair bearer. Besidesthis there were three military officers on horses, one for each chairand two servants riding at the back of each chair. In addition therewere three big Chinese carts following behind for the chair coolies toride in and rest. This made a cavalcade consisting of forty-five men, nine horses and three carts. 

I had a rather nervous feeling riding along in the chair surrounded byinky blackness, with nothing to relieve the stillness of the night butthe rough voices of the chair bearers calling back and forth to eachother to be careful of stones and holes in the road, which was veryuneven, and the clump, clump of the horses. To my readers who have neverhad the experience of riding a long distance in a sedan chair I wouldsay that it is a most uncomfortable conveyance, as you have to sitperfectly still and absolutely straight, otherwise the chair is liableto upset. This ride was a very long one and I felt quite stiff and tiredby the time I reached the Palace gates. 

CHAPTER TWO--AT THE PALACE

WHEN we reached the City gates, which were about half way between ourhouse and the Summer Palace, they were wide open for us to pass. Thisquite surprised us, as all gates are closed at seven o'clock in theevening and are not opened except on special occasions until daylight. We inquired of the guard why this was, and were told that orders hadbeen given for the gates to be opened for us to pass. The officials whohad charge were standing in a double line dressed in full official dressand saluted us as we passed. 

It was still quite dark when we had passed through the gate and Ithought of the many experiences of my short life; but this was by farthe strangest of them all. I wondered what Her Majesty would be like andwhether she would like me or not. We were told that probably we would beasked to stay at the Court, and I thought that if that came to pass, Iwould possibly be able to influence Her Majesty in favor of reform andso be of valuable assistance to China. These thoughts made me feel happyand I made up my mind then and there that I would do all I could anduse any influence I might have in the future towards the advancement ofChina and for her welfare. While I was still dreaming of these pleasantprospects, a faint red line appeared on the horizon heralding the comingof a most perfect day, and so it proved. As the light grew brighter andI could distinguish objects, a very pretty view gradually opened to me, and as we came nearer to the Palace I could see a high red wall whichzigzagged from hill to hill and enclosed the Palace grounds. The tops ofthe wall and buildings were covered with yellow and green tiles and madea most dazzling picture in the bright sunlight. Pagodas of differentsizes and styles were passed, and when we arrived at the village of HaiTien, about four li from the Palace gates, we were told by the officerswe only had a short distance further to go. This was good news, as Ibegan to think we would never get there. This village was quite a prettycountry place of one-story houses built of brick, which were very neatand clean as are most of the houses in the northern part of China. Thechildren trouped out to see the procession pass, and I heard one remarkto another: "Those ladies are going to the Palace to become Empresses, "which amused me very much. 

Soon after leaving Hai Tien we came to a pai lou (archway), a verybeautiful piece of old Chinese architecture and carved work, and fromhere got our first view of the Palace gates, which were about 100 yardsahead. These gates are cut into the solid wall surrounding the Palaceand consist of one very large gate in the center and two smaller ones oneach side. The center gate is only opened when their Majesties pass inand out of the Palace. Our chairs were set down in front of the leftgate, which was open. Outside of these gates, at a distance of about 500yards, were two buildings where the guard stayed at night. 

Just as we arrived I saw a number of officials talking excitedly, andsome of them went into the gate shouting "Li la, doula" (have come, havearrived). When we got out of our chairs, we were met by two eunuchs ofthe fourth rank (chrystal button and feather). This feather which isworn by eunuchs of the fourth rank, comes from a bird called the magh(horse-fowl) which is found in Szechuen Province. They are grey andare dyed black, and are much wider than the peacock feather. Thesetwo eunuchs were accompanied by ten small eunuchs carrying yellowsilk screens, which they placed around our chairs when we alighted. Itappeared that Her Majesty had given orders that these screens (huangwai mor) should be brought to us. This is considered a great honor. Theywere ten feet long and twenty feet high and were held by two eunuchs. 

These two eunuchs of high rank were extremely polite and stood at eachside of the gate and invited us to enter. Passing through this gate wecame into a very large paved courtyard about three hundred feet square, in which there were a great many small flower beds and old pine treesfrom which hung all kinds of birds in cages. On the side opposite to thegates we had entered was a red brick wall with three gates exactly likethe others; on the right and left side were long rows of low buildingseach containing twelve rooms, used as waiting rooms. The courtyard wasfull of people dressed in official robes of the different ranks, and, after the Chinese fashion, all seemed to be very busy doing nothing. When they saw us they stood still and stared. The two eunuchs who wereshowing us the way conducted us to one of these rooms. This room wasabout twenty feet square, just ordinarily furnished in black woodfurniture with red cloth cushions and silk curtains hanging from thethree windows. We were not in this room more than five minutes when agorgeously dressed eunuch came and said: "Imperial Edict says to inviteYu tai tai (Lady Yu) and young ladies to wait in the East side Palace. "On his saying this, the two eunuchs who were with us knelt downand replied "Jur" (Yes). Whenever Her Majesty gives an order it isconsidered an Imperial Edict or command and all servants are required tokneel when any command is transmitted to them the same as they would ifin Her Majesty's presence, Then they told us to follow them and we wentthrough another left gate to another courtyard laid out exactly the sameas the former, except that the Ren Shou Dien (audience hall) is situatedon the north side and the other buildings were a little larger. Theeunuchs showed us into the east side building, which was beautifullyfurnished with reddish blackwood exquisitely carved, the chairsand tables covered with blue satin and the walls hung with the samematerial. In different parts of the room were fourteen clocks of allsizes and shapes. I know this, for I counted them. 

In a little while two servant girls came and waited on us and told usthat Her Majesty was dressing and that we were to wait a little time. This little time proved to be a matter of more than two hours anda half, but as this is considered nothing in China, we did not getimpatient. From time to time eunuchs came and brought milk to drink andabout twenty or more dishes of various kinds of food which Her Majestysent. She also sent us each a gold ring with a large pearl in thecenter. Later the chief eunuch, Li Lien Ying, came dressed in hisofficial clothes. He was of the second rank and wore a red button andpeacock feather and was the only eunuch that was ever allowed to wearthe peacock feather. He was a very ugly man, very old and his face wasfull of wrinkles; but he had beautiful manners and said that Her Majestywould receive us in a little while, and brought us each a jade ringwhich she had sent us. We were very much surprised that she should giveus such beautiful presents before she had even seen us, and felt mostkindly disposed toward her for her generosity. 

Soon after Li Lien Ying had gone, two court ladies, daughters of PrinceChing, came in and asked the eunuchs who were attending us if we couldspeak Chinese, which we thought a great joke. I was the first one tospeak, and told them of course we could speak our own language, althoughwe knew several others. They were very much surprised and said: "Oh!how funny, they can talk the language as well as we do. " We in turn werevery much surprised to find such ignorant people in the Imperial Palaceand concluded that their opportunities for acquiring knowledge were verylimited. Then they told us Her Majesty was waiting to receive us, and wewent immediately. 

After walking through three courtyards very similar to those we hadpreviously passed through, we came to a magnificent building just onemass of exquisite carving. Large lanterns made of buffalo horns hung allover the veranda covered with red silk from which red silk tassels werehanging and from each of these tassels was suspended a beautiful pieceof jade. There were two smaller buildings flanking this large one, alsoone mass of carvings and hung with lanterns. 

At the door of the large building we met a lady, dressed the same asPrince Ching's daughters, with the exception that she had a phoenix inthe center of her headdress which distinguished her from the others. This lady came out to meet us, smiling, and shook hands with us in themost approved foreign fashion. We were told later that this was theYoung Empress, wife of the Emperor Kwang Hsu. She said: "Her Majesty hassent me to meet you, " and was very sweet and polite, and had beautifulmanners; but was not very pretty. Then we heard a loud voice from thehall saying, "Tell them to come in at once. " We went into this hallimmediately and saw an old lady dressed in a beautiful yellow satin gownembroidered all over with pink peonies, and wearing the same kind ofheaddress with flowers on each side made of pearls and jade, a pearltassel on the left side and a beautiful phoenix in the center made ofpurest jade. Over her gown she wore a cape, the most magnificent andcostly thing I ever saw. This cape was made of about three thousand fivehundred pearls the size of a canary bird's egg, all exactly alike incolor and perfectly round. It was made on the fish net pattern and hada fringe of jade pendants and was joined with two pure jade clasps. Inaddition to this Her Majesty wore two pairs of pearl bracelets, onepair of jade bracelets, several jade rings and on her third and littlefingers of her right hand she wore gold finger nail protectors aboutthree inches long and on the left hand two finger nail protectors madeof jade and about the same length. Her shoes were trimmed with smalltassels made of pearls and embroidered with tiny pieces of differentcolored jade. 

Her Majesty stood up when she saw us and shook hands with us. She hada most fascinating smile and was very much surprised that we knewthe Court etiquette so well. After she had greeted us, she said to mymother: "Yu tai tai (Lady Yu), you are a wonder the way you have broughtyour daughters up. They speak Chinese just as well as I do, although Iknow they have been abroad for so many years, and how is it that theyhave such beautiful manners?" "Their father was always very strict withthem, " my mother replied; "he made them study their own language firstand they had to study very hard. " "I am pleased to hear their fatherhas been so careful with them, " Her Majesty said, "and given them sucha fine education. " She took my hands and looked into my face and smiledand kissed me on both cheeks and said to my mother: "I wish to have yourdaughters and hope they will stay with me. " We were very much pleasedat this and thanked her for her kindness. Her Majesty asked all sorts ofquestions about our Paris gowns and said we must wear them all thetime, as she had very little chance to see them at the Court. She wasparticularly in love with our Louis XV high heel shoes. While we weretalking to her we saw a gentleman standing at a little distance andafter a while she said, "Let me introduce you to the Emperor Kwang Hsu, but you must call him Wan Sway Yeh (Master of 10, 000 years) and call meLao Tsu Tsung (the Great Ancestor). " His Majesty shyly shook hands withus. He was a man about five feet, seven inches in height, very thin, but with very strong features; high nose and forehead, large, brilliantblack eyes, strong mouth, very white, even teeth; altogether goodlooking. I noticed he had a very sad look, although he was smiling allthe time we were there. At this juncture the head eunuch came, kneltdown on the marble floor and announced that Her Majesty's chair wasready and she asked us to go with her to the Audience Hall, distantabout two minutes' walk, where she was going to receive the heads of thedifferent Boards. It was a beautiful day and her open chair was waiting. This chair is carried by eight eunuchs all dressed in official robes, a most unusual sight. The head eunuch walked on her left side and thesecond eunuch on her right side, each with a steadying hand on the chairpole. Four eunuchs of the fifth rank in front and twelve eunuchs of thesixth rank walked behind. Each eunuch carried something in his hand, such as Her Majesty's clothes, shoes, handkerchiefs, combs, brushes, powder boxes, looking glasses of different sizes, perfumes, pins, blackand red ink, yellow paper, cigarettes, water pipes, and the last onecarried her yellow satin-covered stool. Besides this there weretwo amahs (old women servants) and four servant girls all carryingsomething. This procession was most interesting to see and made onethink it a lady's dressing room on legs. The Emperor walked on HerMajesty's right and the Young Empress on the left, as did also the Courtladies. 

The Audience Hall was about two hundred feet long by about one hundredand fifty feet wide, and at the left side was a long table covered withyellow satin. When Her Majesty came down from the chair she went intothe Hall and mounted her throne just behind this table, and His Majestymounted a smaller one at her left side, the Ministers all kneeling onthe floor in front of her and on the opposite side of the table. 

At the back of the Hall was a large dais about twenty feet long by abouteighteen feet wide, enclosed by a magnificently carved railing abouttwo feet high running all the way round, open only in the front intwo places just large enough for a person to pass through. These twoopenings were reached by a flight of six steps. At the back of this daiswas a small screen and immediately in front of this, in the center, was Her Majesty's throne. Immediately behind was an immense carved woodscreen, the most beautiful thing I ever saw, twenty feet long by tenfeet high. In front of Her Majesty's throne was a long narrow table. Atthe left side was a smaller throne for the Emperor. 

The theme of the carving and furnishings of this dais was the phoenixand peony most exquisitely carved in ebony wood, in fact the theme ofthe entire room was the same. On each side of Her Majesty's throne weretwo upright ebony poles on the top of which were peacock feathers madeinto the shape of a fan The upholstery was entirely of yellow Chinesevelvet. 

Just before Her Majesty took her seat on her throne she ordered us to gobehind this screen with the Young Empress and the Court ladies. Thiswe did, and could hear the conversation between Her Majesty and theMinisters very plainly, and as my readers will see later, I made gooduse of this. 

CHAPTER THREE--A PLAY AT THE COURT

THIS day to me was a medley of brilliant impressions. I was a greatnovelty among these exclusive Court ladies, brought up rigidly apartfrom foreign life and customs, and I was subjected to a rapid fire ofquestions. I soon found that these women were the same as others theworld over in point of curiosity and love of gossip. The fourth daughterof Prince Ching (Sze Gurgur), a young widow and a strikingly handsomewoman, spoke to me. "Were you brought up in Europe and educated?" sheasked. "I am told that when people go to that country and drink thewater there, they quickly forget their own country. Did you really studyto acquire all those languages or was it drinking the water that gavethem to you?" I mentioned that I met her brother, Prince Tsai Chen, inParis on his way to London for the coronation of King Edward, and thatwe should have liked to have gone also, as my father had a specialinvitation, but were prevented from doing so by his urgent duties inParis in settling the Yunnan question, to which the Princess replied:"Is there a king in England? I had thought that our Empress Dowagerwas Queen of the world. " Her sister, wife of the brother of the YoungEmpress, a most intelligent, quiet and dignified lady, stood by smilingand listening to the eager questions. After numerous questions had beenasked the Young Empress finally said: "How ignorant you are. I know thateach country has its ruler and that some countries are republics. TheUnited States is a republic and very friendly toward us, but I am sorrythat such a common class of people go there, as they will think weare all the same. What I should like to see is some of our good Manchupeople go, as then they would see what we really are. " She afterwardstold me she had been reading a history of the different countries, which had been translated into Chinese, and she seemed to be very wellinformed. 

After the Audience was over, Her Majesty called us out from behind thescreen and told us to go with her to see the theatre. She said, as itwas such a beautiful day, she preferred to walk, so we started, walkinga little behind her, as is the custom. Along the way she pointed outfrom time to time different places and things that were her particularfavorites, and as she had to keep turning around all the time, shefinally told us to come and walk alongside of her. This, as I afterwardsfound out, was a great condescension on her part and a thing thatshe very seldom ever did. She, like everybody else, had her pets andhobbies, such as flowers, trees, plants, dogs, horses, etc. , and therewas one dog in particular that was her favorite pet. This dog was withHer Majesty always and followed her wherever she went, and a more homelydog I never saw. It had absolutely nothing to recommend it in any way. Her Majesty thought it beautiful, and called it Shui Ta (Sea Otter). 

A short distance from the Audience Hall we came to a large courtyard. On each side of this courtyard were two immense baskets fifteen feetin height, built of natural logs and literally covered with purplewisteria. They were simply gorgeous and great favorites of Her Majesty. She was always very proud of them when in bloom and took great delightin showing them to the people. 

From this courtyard we entered a sort of passageway which ran alongthe sides of a big hill and led directly to the theatre, where we soonarrived. This theatre is quite unlike anything that you can imagine. It is built around the four sides of an open courtyard, each side beingseparate and distinct. The building has five stories. It is entirelyopen on the front and has two stages, one above the other. The three topstories are used for holding the drops and for store rooms. The stage onthe first floor is of the ordinary kind; but that on the second flooris built to represent a temple and used when playing religious plays, ofwhich Her Majesty was very fond. 

On the two sides were long, low buildings with large verandas runningtheir entire length, where the Princes and Ministers sat when invitedby Her Majesty to witness the play. Directly opposite this stage wasa spacious building, containing three large rooms, which was usedexclusively by Her Majesty. The floor was raised about ten feet abovethe ground, which brought it on a level with the stage. Large glasswindows ran along in front, so made that they could be removed in thesummer and replaced with pale blue gauze screens. Two of these roomswere used as sitting rooms and the third, the one on the right, she usedas a bedroom, and it had a long couch running across the front, on whichshe used to sit or lie according to her mood. This day she invited usto go to this room with her. Later I was told that she would veryoften come to this room, look at the play for a while and then take hersiesta. She could certainly sleep soundly, for the din and noise didnot disturb her in the least. If any of my readers have ever been to aChinese theatre, they can well imagine how difficult it would be to woothe God of Sleep in such a pandemonium. 

As soon as we were in this bedroom the play commenced. It was areligious play called "The Empress of Heaven's Party or Feast to allthe Buddhist Priests to eat her famous peaches and drink her best wine. "This party or feast is given on the third day of the third moon of eachyear. 

The first act opens with a Buddhist Priest, dressed in a yellow coatrobe with a red scarf draped over his left shoulder, descending in acloud from Heaven to invite all the priests to this party. I was verymuch surprised to see this actor apparently suspended in the air andactually floating on this cloud, which was made of cotton. The cleverway in which they moved the scenery, etc. , was most interesting, andbefore the play was finished I concluded that any theatre manager couldwell take lessons from these people; and it was all done without theslightest bit of machinery. 

As this Buddhist Priest was descending, a large pagoda began to slowlyrise from the center of the stage in which was a buddha singing andholding an incense burner in front of him. Then four other smallerpagodas slowly rose from the four corners of the stage, each containinga buddha the same as the first. When the first Buddhist Priest haddescended, the five buddhas came out of the pagodas, which immediatelydisappeared, and walked about the stage, still singing. Gradually fromthe wing came numbers of buddhas singing until the stage was full, andthey all formed into a ring. Then I saw a large lotus flower, made ofpink silk, and two large green leaves appearing from the bottom of thestage, and as it rose the petals and leaves gradually opened and I saw abeautiful lady buddha (Goddess of Mercy) dressed all in white silk, witha white hood on her head, standing in the center of this flower. As theleaves opened I saw a girl and a boy in the center of them. When thepetals of the lotus flower were wide open this lady buddha began togradually ascend herself, and as she ascended, the petals closed untilshe seemed to be standing on a lotus bud. The girl standing in theleaf on the Goddess' right side held a bottle made of jade and a willowbranch. The legend of this is that if the Goddess dips the willow branchinto the jade bottle and spreads it over a dead person it will bringthe person to life. The boy and the girl are the two attendants of thebuddha. 

Finally the three came down from the flower and leaves and joined therest of the buddhas. Then the Empress of Heaven came, a good old ladywith snow-white hair, dressed from head to foot in Imperial yellow, followed by many attendants, and ascended the throne, which was in thecenter of the stage, and said: "We will go to the banquet hall. " Thisended the first scene. 

The second scene opened with tables set for the feast to be given by theEmpress of Heaven. These tables were loaded down with peaches and wineand four attendants guarding them. Suddenly a bee came buzzing near andscattered a powder under the nostrils of the attendants, which made themsleepy. When they had fallen asleep, this bee transformed itself into abig monkey and this monkey ate all the peaches and drank all the wine. As soon as he had finished he disappeared. 

A blast of trumpets announced the coming of the Empress of Heaven andshe soon arrived accompanied by all the Buddhist Priests and theirattendants. When the Empress of Heaven saw all the peaches and wine haddisappeared, she woke the attendants and asked them why they were asleepand where the peaches and wine had gone. They said that they did notknow, that they were waiting for her to come and fell asleep. Then oneof the guests suggested that she should find out what had become of thefeast, and attendants were sent out to the guard to find out fromthe soldiers if anyone had gone out of the gate recently. Before themessenger had time to return, the Guard of Heaven came and informed theEmpress that a big monkey, who was very drunk and carrying a big stick, had just gone out of the gate. When she was told this, she ordered thesoldiers of heaven and several buddhas to go and find him at his place. It seems that this monkey had originally been made from a piece of stoneand lived in a large hole in a mountain on the earth. He was endowedwith supernatural powers and could walk on the clouds. He was allowedto come to heaven and the Empress of Heaven gave him a position lookingafter the Imperial orchards. 

When they got to his place on the earth, they found that he had takensome of the peaches with him and he, with other monkeys, was having afeast. The soldiers challenged him to come out and fight. He immediatelyaccepted this challenge, but the soldiers could do nothing with him. Hepulled the hair out of his coat and transformed each hair into a littlemonkey and each monkey had an iron rod in its hand. He himself hada special iron rod, which had been given to him by the King of SeaDragons. This rod he could make any size he wanted from a needle to acrowbar. 

Among the buddhas who had gone with the soldiers was one named Erh LangYeh, who was the most powerful of them all and had three eyes. Thisbuddha had a dog which was very powerful and he told the dog to bitethis monkey, which he did, and the monkey fell down and they caught himand brought him up to heaven. When they got there the Empress of Heavenordered that he should be handed to Lao Chun, an old taoist god, andthat he should burn him in his incense burner. The incense burner wasvery large, and when they took the monkey to him he placed him insidethis burner and watched him very carefully to see that he did not getout. After he had watched for a long time he thought the monkey must bedead and went out for a few minutes. The monkey, however, was not deadand as soon as Lao Chun went out, he escaped and stole some goldenpills which Lao Chun kept in a gourd and went back to his hole in themountains. These pills were very powerful and if one of them were eatenit would give eternal life, and the monkey knew this. The monkey ate oneand it tasted good and he gave the little monkeys some. When Lao Chuncame back and found both the monkey and the pills gone he went andinformed the Empress of Heaven. This ended the second scene. 

The third scene opened with the buddhas and soldiers at the monkey'splace in the mountains and they again asked him to come out and fight. The monkey said: "What! Coming again?" and laughed at them. They startedto fight again, but he was so strong they could not get the best of him. Even the dog who had bit him before was powerless this time, and theyfinally gave it up and returned to heaven and told the Empress of Heaventhat they could not capture him the second time, as he was too strong. Then the Empress of Heaven called a little god about fifteen years oldby the name of Neur Cha, who had supernatural powers, and told him to godown to earth to the monkey's place and see if he could finish him. Thisgod was made of lotus flowers and leaves, that is, his bones were madeof flowers and his flesh made of leaves and he could transform himselfinto anything that he wished. When Neur Cha got to the monkey's placeand the monkey saw him, he said: "What! A little boy like you come tofight me? Well, if you think you can beat me, come on, " and the boytransformed himself into an immense man with three heads and six arms. When the monkey saw this, he transformed himself also into the samething. When the little god saw that this would not do, he transformedhimself into a very big man and started to take the monkey, but themonkey transformed himself into a very large sword and cut this man intotwo pieces. The little god again transformed himself into fire to burnthe monkey, but the monkey transformed himself into water and put thefire out. Again the little god transformed himself, this time into avery fierce lion, but the monkey transformed himself into a big net tocatch the lion. So this little god, seeing that he could not get thebest of the monkey, gave it up and went back to heaven, and told theEmpress of Heaven that the monkey was too strong for him. The Empressof Heaven was in despair, so she sent for Ju Li, an old ancestor of thebuddhas, who was the all-powerful one of them all; and Kuan Yin, Goddessof Mercy, and sent them down to the monkey's place to see if they couldcapture him. When they arrived at the hole in the mountain the monkeycame out and looked at Ju Li, but did not say a word, as he knew whothis god was. This god pointed a finger at him and he knelt down andsubmitted. Ju Li said: "Come with me, " and took the monkey and put himunder another mountain and told him he would have to stay there untilhe promised he would be good. Ju Li said: "You stay here until one dayI lift this mountain up for you to come out to go with a Buddhist Priestto the West side of heaven and demand the prayer books that are keptthere. You will have to suffer a great deal on the way and face manydangers, but if you come back with this Buddhist Priest and the prayerbooks, by that time your savage temper will be gone and you will be putin a nice place in heaven and enjoy life forever afterwards. "

This finished the play, which was very interesting, and I enjoyed itfrom beginning to end. It was acted very cleverly and quite realistic, and I was very much surprised to know that the eunuchs could act sowell. Her Majesty told us that the scenery was all painted by theeunuchs and that she had taught them about all they knew. Unlike mosttheatres in China, it had a curtain which was closed between the acts, also wing slides and drop scenes. Her Majesty had never seen a foreigntheatre and I could not understand where she got all her ideas from. Shewas very fond of reading religious books and fairy tales, and wrotethem into plays and staged them herself, and was extremely proud of herachievement. 

Her Majesty sat talking, we standing, for some little time and she askedme if I understood the play, and I told her that I did and she seemedquite pleased. Then she said in such a charming way: "Oh! I am sointerested in talking with you that I have forgotten to order my lunch. Are you hungry? Could you get Chinese food when you were abroad, andwere you homesick? I know I would be if I left my own country for solong a time; but the reason why you were abroad so long was not yourfault. It was my order that sent Yu Keng to Paris and I am not a bitsorry, for you see how much you can help me now, and I am proud of youand will show you to the foreigners that they may see our Manchu ladiescan speak other languages than their own. " While she was talking Inoticed that the eunuchs were laying three large tables with nice whitetable cloths, and I could see a number of other eunuchs standing inthe courtyard with boxes of food. These boxes or trays are made of woodpainted yellow and are large enough to hold four small and two largebowls of food. After the tables were laid ready, the eunuchs outsideformed themselves into a double line from the courtyard to a little gaterunning into another courtyard and passed these trays from one to theother up to the entrance of the room, where they were taken by fournicely dressed eunuchs and placed on the tables. 

It seems that it was a habit of Her Majesty to take her meals wherevershe happened to be, so that there was no particular place that sheused as a dining room. I should also mention that these bowls were ofImperial yellow with silver covers. Some were ornamented with greendragons and some with the Chinese character Shou (Long Life). 

There were about one hundred and fifty different kinds of food, for Icounted them. They were placed in long rows, one row of large bowls andone row of small plates, and then another row of small bowls, and so on. As the setting of the tables was going on, two Court ladies came intothe bedroom, each carrying a large yellow box. I was very much surprisedto see Court ladies doing this kind of work and I said to myself, ifI come here will I have to do this sort of thing? Although these boxesappeared to be quite heavy, they brought them in very gracefully. Twosmall tables were placed in front of Her Majesty, then they opened theboxes and placed a number of very cute plates containing all sorts ofsweets, lotus flower seeds, dried and cooked with sugar, watermelonseeds, walnuts cooked in different ways, and fruits of the season cutand sliced. As these plates were being placed on the tables Her Majestysaid that she liked these dainties better than meat and gave us some andtold us to make ourselves at home. We thanked her for her kindness andenjoyed them very much. I noticed that she ate quite a quantity from thedifferent plates and wondered how she would be able to eat her lunch. When she had finished, two of the Court ladies came and took the platesaway and Her Majesty told us that she always gave what was left to theCourt ladies after she had finished eating. 

After this a eunuch came in carrying a cup of tea. This tea cup wasmade of pure white jade and the saucer and cover was of solid gold. Thenanother eunuch came in carrying a silver tray on which were two jadecups similar to the others, one containing honeysuckle flowers and theother rose petals. He also brought a pair of gold chopsticks. They bothknelt on the floor in front of Her Majesty and held the trays up sothat she could reach them. She took the golden cover off of the cupcontaining tea and took some of the honeysuckle flowers and placedthem in the tea. While she was doing this and sipping the tea, she wastelling how fond she was of flowers and what a delicate flavor they gaveto the tea. Then she said: "I will let you taste some of my tea and seeif you like it, " and ordered one of the eunuchs to bring us sometea, the same as she was drinking. When it came, she put some of thehoneysuckle flowers in the cup for us and watched us drink it. It wasthe most delicious tea I had ever tasted and the putting of flowers init gave it an extremely delicate flavour. 

CHAPTER FOUR--A LUNCHEON WITH THE EMPRESS

WHEN we had finished drinking tea, she told us to go with her into thenext room, where the tables had been prepared for lunch, and I wonderedif she had any room for lunch, after all that she had just eaten, butI soon found out. As soon as she was inside the room, she ordered thecovers to be removed and they were all taken off at one time. Then shetook her seat at the head of the table and told us to stand at the foot. She then said: "generally the Emperor takes lunch with me when we havethe theatre, but he is shy to-day, as you are all new to him. I hope hewill get over it and not be so bashful. You three had better eat with meto-day. " Of course, we knew that this was an especial favor, and thankedher by kowtowing before we commenced to eat. This kowtowing, or bowingour heads to the ground, was very tiring at first and made us dizzy, until we got used to it. 

When we commenced to eat, Her Majesty ordered the eunuchs to placeplates for us and give us silver chopsticks, spoons, etc. , and said:

"I am sorry you have to eat standing, but I cannot break the law of ourgreat ancestors. Even the Young Empress cannot sit in my presence. Iam sure the foreigners must think we are barbarians to treat our Courtladies in this way and I don't wish them to know anything about ourcustoms. You will see how differently I act in their presence, so thatthey cannot see my true self. "

I was watching her while she was talking to my mother and marvelledto see how she could eat, after having eaten such a quantity of candy, walnuts, etc. , while in her bedroom. 

Beef was a thing that was tabooed within the precincts of the Palace, asit was considered a great sin to kill and eat animals that were used asbeasts of burden. The food consisted mostly of pork, mutton and game, fowls and vegetables. This day we had pork cooked in ten different ways, such as meat balls, sliced cold in two different ways, red and white, the red being cooked with a special kind of sauce made of beans whichgives it the red color and has a delicious taste. Chopped pork withchopped bamboo shoots, pork cut in cubes and cooked with cherriesand pork cooked with onions and sliced thin. This last dish was HerMajesty's favorite and I must say it was good. Then there was a sort ofpancake made of eggs, pork and mushrooms chopped fine and fried, alsopork cooked with cabbage and another dish cooked with turnips. The fowland mutton was cooked in several different ways. In the center of thetable was a very large bowl about two feet in diameter of the sameyellow porcelain, in which there was a chicken, a duck and some sharkfins in a clear soup. Shark fins are considered a great delicacy inChina. Besides this there was roast chicken, boneless chicken and roastduck. Ducks and chickens are stuffed with little pine needles to givethem a fine flavor and roasted in open air ovens. 

There was another dish that Her Majesty was very fond of and that wasthe skin of roast pork cut into very small slices and fried until itcurls up like a rasher of bacon. 

As a rule the Manchu people seldom eat rice, but are very fond of breadand this day we had bread, made in a number of different ways, such asbaked, steamed, fried, some with sugar and some with salt andpepper, cut in fancy shapes or made in fancy moulds such as dragons, butterflies, flowers, etc. , and one kind was made with mincemeat inside. Then we had a number of different kinds of pickles, of which Her Majestywas very fond. Then there was beans and green peas, and peanuts madeinto cakes and served with sugarcane syrup. 

I did not eat very much, as I was too busy watching Her Majesty andlistening to what she said, although she told us to eat all we could. In addition to all I have mentioned, we had many different kinds ofporridge, some made of sweet corn and some with tiny yellow rice (likebird seed), and Her Majesty said that we must all eat porridge after ourmeat. 

After we had finally finished eating, Her Majesty rose from the tableand said: "Come into my bedroom and you will see the Young Empress andthe Court ladies eat; they always eat after I am finished. " We went withher and I stood near the door between the two rooms and saw the YoungEmpress and Court ladies come in and stand around the table eating veryquietly. They were never allowed to sit down and eat their food. 

All this time the theatre had been going on playing some fairy tales, but they were not near as interesting as the first play that we hadseen. Her Majesty sat on her long couch in the bedroom and the eunuchbrought her some tea and she ordered some brought for us. My readercan imagine how delighted I was to be treated in this way. In China thepeople think their sovereign is the supreme being and that her word islaw. One must never raise their eyes when talking to her. This is a signof great respect. I thought these extreme favors must be most unusual. Ihad been told that Her Majesty had a very fierce temper, but seeing herso kind and gracious to us and talking to us in such a motherly way, Ithought my informant must be wrong and that she was the sweetest womanin the world. 

When Her Majesty had rested a while, she told us that it was time wewere returning to the city, as it was getting late. She gave us eightbig yellow boxes of fruit and cakes to take home with us. She said tomy mother: "Tell Yu Keng (my father) to get better soon and tell him totake the medicine I am sending by you and to rest well. Also give himthese eight boxes of fruit and cakes. " I thought my father, who had beenquite ill since we returned from Paris, would not be much benefited ifhe ate all those cakes. However, I knew he would appreciate her kindthoughtfulness even if it were detrimental to his health. 

As perhaps most of my readers know, it is the custom to kowtow when HerMajesty gives presents and we kowtowed to her when she gave us the fruitand cakes and thanked her for her kindness. 

Just as we were leaving, Her Majesty said to my mother that she liked usvery much and wanted us to come and be her Court ladies and stay at thePalace. We thought this was another great favor and again thanked her, and she asked us when we could come and told us to bring our clothes andthings only, as she would fix everything for us and showed us the housewe would live in when we came and told us to come back inside of twodays. This house contained three very large rooms and was situated onthe right side of her own or private Palace. This Palace Ler Shou Tong(Ever Happy Palace) is situated on the shores of the lake and was HerMajesty's favorite place and where she spent most of her time, readingand resting and when the spirit moved her she would go for a sail on thelake. In this Palace she had quite a number of bedrooms and made use ofthem all. 

When she had finished showing us this house we took leave of HerMajesty, the Young Empress and the Court ladies, and after a long andtiresome ride, reached home exhausted but happy, after the most eventfulday of our lives. When we got into the house, we were surprised to findseveral eunuchs waiting our return. They had brought us each four rollsof Imperial brocade from Her Majesty. Once more we had to bend to customin thanking her for these gifts. This time, the gift having been sent tothe house, we placed the silk on a table in the center of the room andkowtowed to thank Her Majesty and told the eunuchs to tell Her Majestyhow grateful we were to her for all her kindness and for the beautifulgifts. 

There is another thing that had to be done according to the custom, andthat was to give the eunuchs a present or tip, and we had to give eachof the eunuchs ten taels for their trouble. We afterwards found out thatwhen eunuchs went anywhere to take presents for Her Majesty, they wererequired to report to her when they returned how the recipient hadthanked her and what had been given them, which she allowed them tokeep. She also asked them numerous questions about our house, whether wewere pleased with her, etc. These people are extremely fond of talkingand after we had returned to the Palace again, they told us what HerMajesty had said about us the first day we were there. 

My mother felt very much worried to go to the Palace and leave my fatherall alone owing to his being in poor health, but we could not disobeyHer Majesty's order, so we returned to the Palace three days later. 

Our first day there was a busy one for us. When we first arrived we wentand thanked Her Majesty for the present that she had sent us. She toldus that she was very busy to-day, as she was going to receive a Russianlady, Madame Plancon, wife of the Russian Minister to China, who wasbringing a miniature portrait of the Czar and Czarina and family as apresent from the Czar to her, the Empress Dowager. She asked me if Icould speak Russian. I told her that I could not, but that most Russiansspoke French, which seemed to satisfy her. She, however, said: "Whydon't you tell me you speak Russian, I won't know or be able to findout, " and at the same time was looking at one of the Court ladies. Iconcluded that someone must be fooling her, for she seemed to appreciatethe fact that I had told her the truth. This afterwards proved to betrue and one of the Court ladies was dismissed for pretending she couldtalk foreign languages when she could not speak a word. 

Besides this audience there was the theatre and the engagement ceremonyof Her Majesty's nephew, Ter Ju. The engagement ceremony, according tothe Manchu custom, is performed by two of the Princesses of the Royalfamily going to the house of the prospective bride, who sits on her bedcross-legged, her eyes closed and awaits their coming. When they arriveat the house, they go to her bedroom and place a symbol called Ru Yee, made of pure jade about one and a half feet long, in her lap and suspendtwo small bags made of silk and beautifully embroidered, each containinga gold coin, from the buttons of her gown, and place two gold rings onher fingers, on which is carved the characters Ta Hsi (Great Happiness). The meaning of the symbol or sceptre Ru Yee is "May all joy be yours. "

During this entire ceremony absolute silence is maintained andimmediately they have finished, they return to the Palace and inform HerMajesty that the ceremony has been completed. 

CHAPTER FIVE--AN AUDIENCE WITH THE EMPRESS

No one informed us the day before that there was to be an audienceto receive the Russian Minister's wife on that very day. We told HerMajesty that we must go and change our clothes in order to receive thislady. The dresses we wore that day were very simply made and short. Thereason we wore this kind of costume was that there was no carpet andthe bare brick floor had ruined our beautiful red velvet gowns, also theclumsy eunuchs had kept stepping on our trains all the time. We had madeup our minds that short dresses for general wear every day would be morepractical. Her Majesty said: "Why must you change your clothes? I seeyou look much better without that tail dragging behind you on the floor. I laughed at the idea of having a tail on one's dresses. I noticed thatthe first day when you came to the Court. " Before we had time toexplain to her, she said: "I see, dresses with tails behind must be moredignified than short ones, am I right?" We told her it was so. Then shesaid: "Go and put on your most beautiful gowns at once. " We immediatelywent and changed. My sister and myself wore our pink crepe de chinegowns, trimmed with Brussels lace and transparent yokes of the samecolor chiffon. My mother wore her gray crepe de chine embroidered withblack roses and a little touch of pale blue satin on her collar andbelt. We dressed in a great hurry, as Her Majesty had sent eunuchs tosee if we were ready. When she saw us she exclaimed: "Here are threefairies with long tails. " Then she asked us: "Is it very tiring to holdhalf of your dress in your hand when you are walking? The costume ispretty, but I do dislike the tail, there is no sense having a thing likethat. I wonder what these foreigners will think of me having you dressedin their costume. I am sure they won't like the idea. My reason isthis: I want them to see you in foreign clothes in order to let themunderstand I know something about the way they dress. I must say thatno foreign ladies have yet been presented to me dressed in such lovelygowns as you three have. I don't believe foreigners are as wealthy asthe Chinese. I also notice they wear very little jewelry. I was toldthat I have more jewelry than any sovereign in the world and yet I amgetting more all the time. "

We were very busy getting ready to receive Mdme. Plancon, who arrivedabout eleven o'clock and was received in the waiting room of the firstcourtyard by my sister and from there conducted to the audience hall, Ren Shou Dien, where she was received by Her Majesty, who was sitting onher big throne on the raised dais. The Emperor was present, sitting onHer Majesty's left hand and I stood on her right to interpret for her. Her Majesty was dressed in a yellow transparent satin brocade gown, embroidered with hollyhocks and the Chinese character "Shou" (Long Life)and trimmed with gold braid. She wore her big pearl, which is about thesize and shape of an egg, suspended from the button of her dress, alsonumerous bracelets and rings and gold finger nail protectors. Her hairwas dressed in the same style as usual. 

When Mdme. Plancon entered the hall, my sister brought her to the stepsof the dais and she courtesied to Her Majesty. I then went forward andbrought her up onto the dais and Her Majesty shook hands with her andshe presented the photograph which she had brought to Her Majesty. Her Majesty made a very pretty speech of acceptance, expressing herappreciation of the gift of their Majesties, the Czar and Czarina. Iinterpreted this speech in French to Mdme. Plancon, as she could notspeak English. After this, Her Majesty told me to take Mdme. Plancon tothe Emperor, which I did. He stood up when she came near and shook handswith her and asked after their Majesties' health. This over, Her Majestystepped down from her throne and took Mdme. Plancon to her own Palace, the one with so many bedrooms, and when they arrived, Her Majesty askedher to sit down, and they talked together for about ten minutes, Iinterpreting for them, after which I took her to see the Young Empress. 

The Manchu law is very strict as regards the mother-in-law and thedaughter-in-law, and the Young Empress had been sitting behind thescreen at the back of the throne during the audience, and it was therethat I found her. From there we went to the banquet hall, where luncheonwas served in Manchu style. 

Here I must explain the difference between the Chinese way of eating andthe Manchu. The Chinese place the bowls of food, one at a time, in thecenter of the table and everyone eats out of these bowls, sticking theirchopsticks in and helping themselves to what they want. The Manchus eatquite differently and are served with individual bowls and dishes, thesame as in any other country. Her Majesty was very proud of this andsaid that it saved time, not to mention being cleaner. The food in thePalace was always very good and clean, especially when we had foreignguests, and of course we had a variety of dishes for such occasions, such as sharkfins, birds' nest pudding, not to mention a great quantityof other things. 

Her Majesty had given me the order that morning to have the tablesnicely decorated and they did look very nice when we sat down. Besides the usual tableware, we had gold dragon menu holders, littlepeach-shaped silver saucers filled with almonds and dried watermelonseeds, and knives and forks in addition to chopsticks. 

Her Majesty and the Emperor never ate with guests, so Mdme. Plancon wasentertained by the Imperial Princess and the Court ladies. When luncheonwas half over a eunuch came and told me that Her Majesty wanted to seeme at once. The thought flashed through my head that something had gonewrong, or that some of the eunuchs had been making false reports, a badhabit of the Court; and I was much surprised to find her all smiles. Shetold me what a nice, polite lady Mdme. Plancon was, that she had seenmany ladies who had come to the Court, but none with manners like thisone, that she was sorry to say that some of the ladies who came did notbehave very well. She said: "They seem to think we are only Chinese anddo not know anything, and look down upon us. I notice these things veryquickly and am surprised to see people who claim to be well educated andcivilized acting the way they do. I think we whom they call barbariansare much more civilized and have better manners. " She was always verypolite to the foreign ladies, no matter how badly they behaved, butafter they had gone, she would tell us who was nice and who was not. After she had finished saying this, she gave me a beautiful piece ofgreen jade to give to Madame Plancon. When I gave it to her, she saidshe wished to thank Her Majesty, and I took her to the Palace again. 

When we had finished luncheon, she told me how pleased she was with herreception and the kindness that Her Majesty had shown her, and took herdeparture, we accompanying her to the courtyard of the Audience Hall, where her chair was waiting. 

Her Majesty had made a rule or custom that after all guests haddeparted, we must go to her and report everything. I suppose she waslike all women, a bit of a gossip as well as the rest; it appeared so atany rate. She wanted to know what Mdme. Plancon said, whether she likedthe jade and whether she enjoyed her luncheon, etc. 

Her Majesty was very well pleased that I had interpreted so well for herand said: "I have never had anyone to interpret for me this way before. Although I don't understand the language, I can see that you speak itfluently. How did you learn? I will never let you go away from me anymore. Sometimes the foreign ladies bring their own interpreters, butI can't understand their Chinese and have to guess at what they aresaying, especially some of the missionaries Mrs. Conger brings with her. I am very happy to have you and want you to stay with me as long asI live and I will arrange a marriage for you, but won't tell you justnow. "

I felt very happy at what Her Majesty had said and thought I had made mydebut under very favorable auspices, and was very glad that Her Majestyliked me; but this marriage question worried me, for nothing was fartherfrom my mind than this. I afterwards told my mother about it and shetold me not to worry, as I could always refuse when the time came. 

When we had told Her Majesty all that Mdme. Plancon had said, she toldus we could go to our rooms, that as we had risen early that morning andhad worked very hard, we must be tired and needed rest, that she wouldnot need us any more that day. We courtesied to her according to thecustom when saying good night, and retired. 

CHAPTER SIX--IN ATTENDANCE ON HER MAJESTY

THE building where we had our rooms, as I have said before, containedfour large rooms and a hall, and we three, my mother, sister and myself, each took a room and gave the fourth to our maids. Her Majesty hadordered a eunuch to accompany us and this eunuch told us that HerMajesty had ordered four young eunuchs to attend on us and that if theydid not behave, we should tell him. He also said his name was Li, but asthere were so many by this name, including the head eunuch, it was veryhard to tell them apart. 

When we arrived, which took some time, he pointed to a building on ourright and said that it was Her Majesty's own Palace and the one whichwe had just left. I could not understand why it had taken us so long tocome, when the Palace was so near, and asked him about it. He told usthat our little buildings were at the left side of the Emperor's Palaceand that Her Majesty had had the entrance leading from our place to herPalace closed up for certain reasons which he would not tell, but said:"You see this place ought to face East instead of towards the lake. " Theview on the lake was beautiful and I told him I liked it much better theway it was. He smiled and said: "You will have to learn a lot before youfind out this wicked place. " I was surprised at what the eunuch said, but did not like to ask him any questions. He also told us that theEmperor's Palace was just behind our place and was a large buildingsimilar to Her Majesty's Palace. We looked and could see the trees ofhis courtyard above the roof. Then he pointed to another building behindthe Emperor's, which was larger but lower than the Emperor's Palace, andalso had a large courtyard, and said it was the Young Empress's Palace. It had two buildings flanking it on each side and the eunuch told usthat the one on the left was the Secondary Wife's bedroom. That therehad been an entrance between the two Palaces, but that Lao Fo Yeh (Thegreat old Buddha), as the eunuchs called Her Majesty, had blocked it upso that the Emperor and Empress could not communicate with each other, except through Her Majesty's own Palace. I suppose this was the way shekept watch over them and knew at all times what they were doing. Thiswas all news to me and I did not know what to think of it. I was afraidthat this eunuch Li would tell me more of these curious things, so Itold him I was tired and would go to my room and rest, and he went away. 

When I finally got inside my room and had a chance to look around, I sawthat it was very prettily furnished with ebonywood furniture, which wascovered with red satin cushions and the windows were hung with red silkcurtains. All the bedrooms were just alike. The kong (bed) was made ofbrick covered with the same kind of wood and ran along the wall underthe front window. It had high teaster posts with slats running across onwhich red curtains were hung. These kongs are very curiously built. Theyare made of brick and have a hole in the front center in which fire isplaced to heat the brick in winter time. During the day a sort of tableis placed on top of the kong and removed again at night. 

Shortly after we had gone to our rooms, some eunuchs came and broughtour dinner, which they placed on a table in the center of the hall. Theytold us the food had been sent by Her Majesty and that she had orderedthem to tell us to make ourselves comfortable. We were so tired that wecould not eat very much and were about to retire for the night when thiseunuch Li came again and told us that we must be up at five o'clock, notlater, so I told my eunuch to knock on my window at five. Immediatelyafter this we went to bed, but did not sleep immediately, as we wantedto talk over the events of the day, which had been many and strange. After we did finally get to bed, it seemed as if we had just fallenasleep when I heard someone knocking on my window. I woke up with astart and asked what the matter was and a eunuch told me it was fiveo'clock and time to get up. 

I immediately got up and opened my window and looked out. The day wasjust dawning and the sky was a beautiful deep red which was reflectedin the lake, which was perfectly calm. The scenery was lovely and in thedistance I could see Her Majesty's peony mountain, which was literallycovered with these beautiful flowers. I dressed at once and went to HerMajesty's Palace and there met the Young Empress sitting on the veranda. I courtesied to her as a good morning salute. The Emperor's Secondarywife was there also, but we had been ordered not to courtesy to her, as she was considered not to have any standing there. There was also anumber of young Court ladies, many of whom I had never seen before. TheYoung Empress introduced me to them, saying that they were also Courtladies. They were daughters of high Manchu officials and some were verypretty and bright. The Young Empress told me that these ten (there werejust ten there) were never allowed to go near Her Majesty, as they werejust learning the court etiquette. They were all dressed very nicely inpretty Manchu gowns, the same design as that worn by the Young Empress. 

After I had been introduced to these young ladies and talked with thema while, I went inside with the Young Empress and there met Sze Gurgur, fourth daughter of Prince Ching and a young widow twenty-four yearsof age, Yuen Da Nai Nai, widow of Her Majesty's nephew. Both were busygetting things ready for Her Majesty. The Young Empress told us thatwe must go at once to Her Majesty's bedroom and assist Her Majesty todress, so we went at once and courtesied to her and said: "Lao Tsu TsungChi Hsiang" (old ancestor, all joy be with you). Her Majesty was stillin bed and smiled to us and asked us if we had slept well. We told herthe rooms were very comfortable, etc. I thought to myself, we had sleptvery well for the little time we had, but I had not had half enough. Theday before had been very hard for us and we were quite unused to it andit had made us very lame and sore running around so much. 

She asked us if we had had any breakfast and we told her not yet. She scolded Li for not having given the order for our breakfast to bebrought to our rooms and said: "You must not feel like strangers, orderanything you may want. " Then she arose and started to dress. She puton her white silk socks first, having slept in her pantaloons as is thecustom, and tied them at the ankle with pretty ribbon. I must tell youhere that although she always slept in her clothes, she changed them forclean ones every day. Then she put on a pale pink shirt of soft materialand over that a short silk gown, that was embroidered with bambooleaves, as she always wore low heeled shoes in the morning andconsequently could not wear her long gowns. After she had dressed shewalked over to a window in front of which were two long tables coveredwith toilet articles of every kind and description. 

As she was washing her face and dressing her hair, she said to my motherthat she could not bear to have the servant girls, eunuchs, or oldwomen, touch her bed, that they were dirty, so the Court ladies mustmake it. When she said this she turned to my sister and myself, we werestanding a little to one side, and said: "You two must not think for amoment that the Court ladies do servant's work, but you know I am an oldwoman and could easily be your grandmother and it will do you no harm towork a little for me. When it comes your turn, you can superintend theothers and don't have to do the work with your own hands. " Then HerMajesty said to me: "Der Ling you are a great help to me in every wayand I make you my first lady-in-waiting. You must not work too muchfor you will have to make all the arrangements for the audiences forforeigners and you will have to interpret for me. I also want you tolook after my jewels and don't want you to do rough work at all. RoonLing (my sister) can choose what she likes to do. I have two morebesides you, Sze Gurgur and Yuen Da Nai Nai, making four altogether andyou must all work together. It is not necessary to be too polite to themand if they are not nice to you, you let me know. " Although I was veryhappy at receiving this appointment, I knew that according to custom Imust refuse it, so I thanked Her Majesty very kindly for the honorshe had given me and said that I did not know enough to hold such animportant position and would prefer to be just an ordinary Court lady, and that I would learn as quickly as possible to be useful to her. She hardly let me finish what I was saying, when she laughed and said:"Stop! don't say anything like that; you are too modest, which shows youare very clever and not a bit conceited. I am surprised to see what aperfect little Manchu lady you are, knowing even such small etiquette asthis, although you have spent many years outside of China. " She was veryfond of making fun and liked very much to tease, and said that I couldtry and if she saw that I could not do the work, she would scold meand put someone else in my place. After all this that she had said, I accepted the appointment and went over to her bed to see how it wasmade, and I found that it was very easy work to do. As this would beone of my duties, I watched while the bed was being fixed. First ofall, after Her Majesty had risen, the bedclothes were taken out intothe courtyard by the eunuchs and aired, then the bed, which was made ofbeautifully carved wood, was brushed off with a sort of whiskbroom, and a piece of felt placed over it. Then three thick mattresses madeof yellow brocade were placed over the felt. After this came the sheetsmade of different colored soft silk, and over the whole thing was placeda covering of plain yellow satin embroidered with gold dragons and blueclouds. She had a great many pillows, all beautifully embroidered, whichwere placed on the bed during the daytime; but had a particular onestuffed with tea leaves on which she slept. It is said that stuffingthe pillow on which you sleep with tea leaves is good for the eyes. In addition to all these, she had another very curiously shaped pillowabout twelve inches long in the middle of which was a hole about threeinches square. It was stuffed with dried flowers, and the idea of thehole was that when she laid on it she could place her ear in this holeand in this way hear any and every sound. I suppose in that way no onecould come on her unawares. 

Besides this last yellow embroidered cover, there were six covers ofdifferent colors, pale mauve, blue, pink, green and violet, and wereplaced one on top of the other. Over the top of the bed was a frameof wood handsomely carved and from this frame white crepe curtains, beautifully embroidered, hung, and numerous little gauze silk bagsfilled with scent were suspended from the carved work of the frame. Theodor from these bags was very strong and made one feel sick until theybecame used to it. Her Majesty was also very fond of musk and used it onall occasions. 

It took us about fifteen minutes to make the bed, and when I hadfinished, I turned around and saw that Her Majesty was dressing herhair. I stood beside her Majesty while the eunuch was dressing it andsaw that as old as she was, she still had beautiful long hair whichwas as soft as velvet and raven black. She parted it in the center andbrought it low at the back of her ears, and the back braid was brushedup on the top of her head and made it into a tight knot. When shehad finished doing this, she was ready to have the Gu'un Dzan (Manchuheaddress) placed on and pinned through the knot with two large pins. Her Majesty always dressed her hair first and then washed her face. Shewas as fussy and particular as a young girl and would give it to theeunuch if he did not get it just to suit her. She had dozens of bottlesof all kinds of perfume, also perfumed soap. When she had finishedwashing her face, she dried it on a soft towel and sprayed it with akind of glycerine made of honey and flower petals. After that she putsome kind of strong scented pink powder on her face. 

When she had completed her toilet, she turned to me and said: "It mustseem to you quite funny to see an old lady like me taking so much careand pains in dressing and fixing up. Well! I like to dress myself up andto see others dress nicely. It always gives me pleasure to see prettygirls dressed nicely; it makes you want to be young again yourself. " Itold her that she looked quite young and was still beautiful, and thatalthough we were young we would never dare compare ourselves with her. This pleased her very much, as she was very fond of compliments, andI took great pains that morning to study her and to find out what sheliked and what she didn't. 

After this Her Majesty took me into another room and showed me where herjewels were kept. This room was covered with shelves on three sides ofthe room from top to bottom, on which were placed piles of ebony boxesall containing jewels. Small yellow strips were pasted on some of theboxes on which was written the contents. Her Majesty pointed to a row ofboxes on the right side of the room and said: "Here is where I keep myfavorite everyday jewels, and some day you must go over them and seethat they are all there. The rest are all jewels which I wear on specialoccasions. There are about three thousand boxes in this room and I havea lot more locked up in my safety room, which I will show you when I amnot busy. " Then she said: "I am sorry you cannot read and write Chinese, otherwise I would give you a list of these things and you could keep acheck on them. " I was very much surprised at this and wondered who hadtold her I couldn't. I was anxious to know, but did not dare to ask her, so I told her that although I was not a scholar, I had studied Chinesefor some time and could read and write a little, that if she would giveme a list I would try and read it. She said: "That is funny, someonetold me the first day you were here, I forget now who it was, that youcould not read or write your own language at all. " While she was sayingthis, she was looking all around the room and I was sure she knew who itwas that had told her, but she would not tell me. Then she said: "Whenwe have time this afternoon, I will go over this list with you. Bringme those five boxes on the first row of shelves. " I brought the boxes toher room and placed them on the table. She opened the first one and itcontained a most beautiful peony made of coral and jade and each petaltrembled like a real flower. This flower was made by stringing thepetals which were made of coral on very fine brass wire, also the leaveswhich were made of pure jade. She took this flower and placed it on theright side of her headdress. Then she opened another box and tookfrom it a magnificent jade butterfly made in the same way. This was aninvention of her own and it was done by carving the coral and jade intopetals and leaves and boring holes in the lower ends through whichbrass wire was run. The other two boxes contained bracelets and rings ofdifferent patterns. There was a pair of gold bracelets set with pearls, another pair set with jade, with a piece of jade hanging from the endof a small gold chain, etc. The last two contained chains of pearls, thelike of which I never saw before, and I fell in love with them atonce. Her Majesty took one which was made into a plum blossom stringby winding a circle of five pearls around a larger one, then one singlepearl, then another circle of five pearls around a large one, and so on, making quite a long chain, which she suspended from one of the buttonsof her gown. 

At this juncture one of the Court ladies came in carrying several gownsfor Her Majesty to select from. She looked at them and said that none ofthem suited her, to take them back and bring more. I had a look atthem and thought they were perfectly lovely, such pretty colors and sobeautifully embroidered. In a short while the same Court lady cameback carrying more, and from these Her Majesty selected a sea-green oneembroidered all over with white storks. She put this gown on and lookedat herself in the mirror for a while, then took off her jade butterfly. She said: "You see I am very particular about little details. The jadebutterfly is too green and it kills my gown. Put it back in the box andbring me a pearl stork in No. 35 box. " I went back to the jewel room andfortunately found No. 35 box and brought it to her. She opened the boxand took from it a stork made entirely of pearls set in silver, thebird's bill being made of coral. The pearls making the body of the birdwere so cleverly set that the silver could not be seen at all unlessone looked at it very closely. It was a most magnificent piece ofworkmanship and the pearls were of perfect color and shape. Her Majestytook it and placed it in her hair and did look very graceful and pretty. Then she picked out a mauve-colored short jacket, also embroidered withstorks, which she put on over her gown. Her handkerchief and shoeswere also embroidered with storks and when she was entirely dressed shelooked like the stork lady. 

Just as she had finished dressing, the Emperor Kwang Hsu came into thebedroom dressed in his official clothes. These clothes were exactly likeother official clothes, except that he had no button on his hat and didnot wear the peacock feather. He knelt down before Her Majesty and said:"Chin Baba, Chi Hsiang" (dear father, all joy be with you). It may seemcurious that the Emperor and all of us should call Her Majesty father, and the reason why this was done was because Her Majesty always wantedto be a man and compelled everyone to address her as if she wereactually one. This was only one of her many peculiarities. 

I did not know whether to courtesy to the Emperor or not, not havingreceived any orders as to what I should do. However, I thought it betterto be too polite than not enough, so I waited until either he or HerMajesty went out of the room, as we were not allowed to salute orcourtesy to anyone in her presence. In a little while the Emperor wentout and I followed him out into the hall and just as I was in the actof courtesying Her Majesty came out. She looked at me in a very peculiarway, as if she did not approve of what I had done, but said nothing. Ifelt very uncomfortable and made up my mind that being too polite didnot always pay after all. 

I then returned to the room again and saw a small eunuch placing severalyellow boxes on a table at the left side of the room. Her Majesty seatedherself in a large chair, which was called her little throne, and thiseunuch opened the boxes, took a yellow envelope from each box and handedthem to Her Majesty. She opened these envelopes with an ivory paperknife and read their contents. They were memorials from the heads of thedifferent Boards, or from the Viceroys of the different Provinces. TheEmperor had come back and was standing at the side of this table andafter she had finished reading, she handed them over to him. While allthis was being done I stood at the back of her chair. I watched theEmperor as the different papers were handed to him and noticed that itdid not take him very long to finish reading their contents. After hewas finished reading the papers, they were placed back in the boxes. During all this time absolute silence was maintained. Just as they hadfinished the head eunuch came in, knelt down and announced that HerMajesty's chair was ready. She immediately got up and went out of thehouse, we following her, and I took her arm while she was descending thesteps to go to her chair. When she had entered the chair to go to theAudience Hall, the Emperor and Young Empress and we all followed inour usual places, the eunuchs, amahs and servant girls carrying all thethings exactly the same as was done the first day I came to the Palace. When we arrived at the Audience Hall, we took our places behind the bigscreen and the audience commenced. I was very curious to find out justhow the audiences were conducted and wanted to listen to what was goingon, but the Court ladies would not leave me alone. However, when theywere all talking together with my sister, I stole away into a cornerwhere I could sit and rest and listen to the conversation betweenthe different Ministers and Her Majesty. Trust a woman for beinginquisitive. 

The first part of the audience I could not hear very well, as so manypeople were whispering and talking at the same time, but by peepingthrough the carved-work of the screen, I could see a General talking toHer Majesty. I also saw the members of the Grand Council come in headedby Prince Ching, who was the Councillor-in-Chief. After the General hadfinished, Her Majesty talked with Prince Ching about the appointment ofsome minor officials, a list of whose names had been handed to her. Shelooked over this list and spoke about several of the people, but PrinceChing suggested some others, saying: "Although these people whose nameshave been submitted to Your Majesty should receive appointments, thosethat I have suggested are better fitted for the positions. " Her Majestysaid: "All right, I leave it all to you. " Then I heard Her Majesty sayto the Emperor, "Is that correct?" and he replied, "Yes. " This finishedthe Audience for the morning and the Ministers and Grand Councillorstook their leave. We came out from behind the screen to Her Majesty andshe said that she wanted to go for a walk to get some fresh air. Theservant girls brought her a mirror, placed it on a table, and HerMajesty took off her heavy headdress, leaving the simple knot on the topof her head, which was quite becoming. She wanted to change some of theflower jewels and I opened a box which one of the eunuchs had broughtand took out some very dainty flowers made of pearls. I handed her onewhich she placed at the side of this knot, then she selected a jadedragonfly which she placed on the other side. She said these smallflowers were favorites of hers and she liked to wear them when she tookoff her heavy headdress. I was watching her very closely and wonderedwhat I was going to do with the flowers she had taken off. I had notbrought the boxes to put them in, as I did not know she was going tochange again after the audience, and felt a little nervous as to whatwas the right thing to do, or as to what she would say. However, I sawa eunuch come in carrying these boxes and felt much relieved. I quicklyplaced the things in the boxes where they belonged. 

CHAPTER SEVEN--SOME INCIDENTS OF THE COURT

MY first day with Her Majesty was very trying as I did not know justwhat she wanted or how she wanted things done, and no one seemed willingto tell me; but by watching very closely I was soon able to grasp thesituation. After I had finished putting the things in the boxes I didnot know whether to take them back to the jewel room or not, or whetherto wait until Her Majesty ordered me, and again I was in a quandary. Isaw she was talking to my mother, so I waited a little time and finallymade up my mind I would risk it and take them back, which I did. AsI was returning I met Her Majesty in the big courtyard. She had justchanged her gown again and looked much shorter as she had also changedher shoes for ones with lower heels. This gown was made of heavysky-blue crepe with no embroidery at all, just trimmed with pale pinkribbons, and she looked very nice in it. When Her Majesty saw me, sheasked me: "Where have you been?" I told her that I had just been puttingher jewels away. Then she said: "Has anyone told you to put them awayas soon as I am finished with them? I forgot to tell you this morning, although I had meant to. " I said that no one had told me anything, thatI was afraid to have the eunuchs taking such valuable things here andthere, that I was sure that she did not want to use them any more, so Ithought it would be safer to put them away in the jewel room again. HerMajesty looked at me and said: "I can see that these girls don't tellyou anything and I am very glad to see that you have done just the rightthing. That is why I thought someone must have told you what to do. Anything you want to know you can ask me, but don't talk to these meanpeople here. " I could see from this that there must be some jealousyamong them and decided that I was well able to find my own way, as Iknew Her Majesty liked me and would help me out. 

Her Majesty walked along a little way, then laughed and said to me:"Don't I look more comfortable now? I am going for a long walk and takelunch on the top of the hill. There is a nice place up there and I amsure you will like it. Come, let us go. "

The Emperor had gone back to his own Palace, and the head eunuch hadalso disappeared. As we were walking along, Her Majesty was talkingand smiling as if she had never a care or trouble in the world, or anyimportant questions of state to settle. I thought from what I had seenso far that she had a very sweet disposition. She looked back and said:"Just see how many people are following us. " I turned and saw thesame crowd that had accompanied Her Majesty earlier in the day to theAudience Hall. 

After passing out of the large courtyard on the West side, we came to alarge, long veranda running in a zig-zag fashion along the front of thelake, and it was so long that I could not see the end of it. It was veryprettily made of solid carved work from one end to the other. Electriclights were hanging from the ceiling at intervals, and when they werelighted at night, made a beautiful sight. 

Her Majesty was a very fast walker and we had to step lively to keep upwith her. The eunuchs and the servant girls walked on the right side andonly one of the eunuchs was allowed to walk behind us, and he was theone who carried Her Majesty's yellow satin stool, which, like her dog, went everywhere she did. This stool she used to rest on when taking awalk. We walked for quite a long while and I began to feel tired, butHer Majesty, as old as she was, was still walking very fast and did notappear to be the least bit tired. She asked me if I liked the Palace andwhether I would be satisfied to live with her, etc. I told her that itwas a great pleasure for me to serve her, that it had been my dreamfor years, and now that my dream had come true, I could not help but besatisfied. 

We finally arrived at the place where the marble boat was kept, and Iwas about finished. I never saw such vitality in an old woman in my lifeas Her Majesty had, and it was no wonder that she had ruled this vastEmpire of China so successfully for so many years. 

This boat was magnificent, being one mass of carved work, but the insidewas all spoiled. Her Majesty showed us all over the boat, and whilst wewere looking at the ruin, she said: "Look at those colored glasses inthe windows and these beautiful paintings. They were all spoiled by theforeign troops in 1900. I don't intend to have it repaired as I don'twant to forget the lesson I have learned and this is a good reminder. "After we had been standing there a few minutes, a eunuch who had beencarrying the famous satin stool, came forward, and Her Majesty satdown to rest. While we were talking I noticed two large and veryfancy-looking boats approaching us, with several smaller ones comingalong behind. As they came nearer I saw that they were also verybeautifully made, and looked like floating pagodas of beautifullycarved natural wood. The windows of the pagodas were hung with red gauzecurtains and all was trimmed with silk. Her Majesty said: "There are theboats. We must go over to the west side of the lake and have luncheon. "Her Majesty got up and walked to the edge of the lake, two eunuchssupporting her, one at each side. She stepped into the boat and we allfollowed her example. The inside of the boat was very nicely furnishedwith carved ebony furniture with blue satin cushions, one with manypots of flowers on both sides of the window. There were two more cabinsbehind this sitting room. Her Majesty told me to go in to see those tworooms. One little room was a dressing room full of toilet articles. Theother one had two couches and several small chairs for Her Majesty torest whenever she felt tired. Her Majesty sat on her throne and orderedus to sit on the floor. The eunuchs brought in red satin cushions for usto sit upon. To sit on the floor is all right for Chinese clothes, butof course it was out of the question with Paris gowns, and I felt veryuncomfortable, but did not like to say so. I wanted to change intoManchu clothes, for I knew they were comfortable and easy to work in, but having received no order from Her Majesty, I did not dare to suggestit. Her Majesty noticed how very uncomfortable we looked sitting on thefloor. She said: "You can stand up if you want to and just watch thoseboats following us. " I put my head out of the window and noticed theYoung Empress and several other Court ladies were in the other boat. They waved to me, and I waved back. Her Majesty laughed and said to me:"I give you this apple to throw to them. " While saying this she took onefrom the big plates that stood upon the center table. I tried very hard, but the apple did not reach the other boat, but went to the bottom ofthe lake. Her Majesty laughed and told me to try again, but I failed. Finally, she took one and threw it herself. It went straight to theother boat and hit one of the ladies' head. We all laughed quiteheartily. Then I began to enjoy myself. There were several open boatsfull of eunuchs, and another one of servant girls, amahs and the restwith Her Majesty's luncheon. The lake was beautiful and looked so greenin the sun. I told Her Majesty that this color reminded me of the sea. She said: "You have travelled so much, and yet you have not had enough, but are still thinking of the sea. You must not go abroad any more, butstay with me. I want you to enjoy this sailing on this lake instead ofthe rough sea. " I promised her that I would be only too happy to staywith her. I must say the truth, I did enjoy the lovely scenery, thebeautiful weather, superb sunshine, with Her Majesty so kind to me andtalking to me in such a motherly way made me love her more and moreevery minute I was there. I was so extremely happy there that even Parispleasures had gone out of my memory entirely. 

At last we arrived at another part of the lake. This was more of astream, very narrow, just wide enough for one boat to pass. On bothsides of the bank were planted drooping willow trees that reminded me ofthe Chinese Fairy tales I have read. This time I saw the servant girls, amahs, and also eunuchs carrying boxes, walking on both sides of theshore. Only two boats were going then, the Young Empress' and ours. Her Majesty said: "We will arrive at the bottom of the hill in a fewminutes. " When we came near the shore I saw her yellow chair and severalred chairs waiting. We landed and walked to the chairs. I watched HerMajesty get into hers and noticed this was not the same chair she usedthis morning. This little one was, of course, of yellow, with yellowpoles, and two eunuchs carried it, with yellow rope across theirshoulders, and four eunuchs supported the poles, one on each corner ofthe chair. They were just going to raise her chair up when she said: "Yutai tai (Lady Yu) I give you and your daughters special favor and giveyou a red chair with red cord that I have given to only a few people. "The Young Empress looked at us, which I understood at once was meant forus to kowtow to her, which we did, and waited until the Empress got intohers. Then we went to search for ours. To my surprise our own eunuchswere standing waiting beside our chairs. On the poles I noticed thatmy name was written and I asked our eunuch the reason. He said that HerMajesty gave the order the night before. It was a lovely ride going tothe top of the hill. I saw Her Majesty's chair in front, and the YoungEmpress'. They looked to me quite dangerous in ascending that way, andthe men at the back of the chair had to raise the poles above theirheads so as to make the chair the same level in ascending. I was quitenervous and was very much afraid that they might fall off and injure me. Our eunuchs were walking beside our chairs. I said to one of them thatI was afraid the chair bearers might slip. He told me to look back of mychair, which I did, and to my surprise they had the poles raised up alsoabove their heads, and I did not feel it at all. He told me that thesechair bearers practice for such purposes and that there was no dangerat all. It made my heart stop beating looking back and seeing the otherCourt ladies in their chairs way below mine, the eunuchs and servantgirls walking, for fear I might fall off at any time. At last we arrivedat the top of the hill. We helped Her Majesty to alight and followedher into the most lovely building I ever saw, the best one in the SummerPalace to my idea (name of this pavilion, Ching Fo Ker). This Palace hadonly two rooms, with windows on every side. One could see everywhere. Her Majesty used one large one to take her luncheon in and the other asa toilet room. I noticed that wherever we went we found Her Majesty'stoilet room. Her Majesty took us around the compound and showed us thelovely flowers planted everywhere. One of the young eunuchs told me thatHer Majesty's dainties were ready. That was my first day of real work. Iwent out and found two large yellow boxes of different kinds of candiesand fruits, as I have before mentioned. I carried two plates at a time, and finished in nine times, placing them on a square table near her. Shewas talking to my mother then about flowers. I noticed that although shewas talking, she was watching me at the same time. I placed the platesupon the table very carefully, and already having noticed the day beforewhat were her favorite dishes, and placed these near her. She smiledat me and said: "You have done it very nicely. And how do you know thatthese are my favorites and have placed them near me? Who told you?" Ireplied that no one had told me anything and that I had noticed the daybefore what Lao Tsu Tsung liked (according to the Manchu custom one mustaddress a superior or one's parents in the third person). Her Majestysaid: "I can see you use your heart in everything (in China people sayheart instead of head) and are not like the crowd I have here; theyhaven't the brains of a bird. " She was soon busy eating, and gave mesome candies, and told me to eat right there in her presence. Of courseI never forgot to thank her, for I thought I had rather thank her toomuch than too little. She told me: "Whenever I give you small things youneed not kowtow. Just say: 'Hsieh Lao Tsu Tsung Shang' (Thank the oldancestor), that is enough. " After a little while she finished eating, and told me to take the dishes away. She said: "To-day is your day, sothese things are yours. Take them out and sit down on the veranda andenjoy yourself. You see I could not eat all. There are lots of thingsleft. If you like you can tell your own eunuch to send them to yourroom. " I placed the little dishes back in the boxes and took them to theveranda. There I placed them upon the table and told the Young Empressto eat some. I did not know whether it was right to offer them to her ornot and thought I could not do her any harm, even if I tried. She saidall right, that she would eat some. I took a piece of candy and had justput it into my mouth when I heard Her Majesty calling my name. I hurriedin and found her sitting at her table ready to take her lunch. She said:"What else did Mdme. Plancon say yesterday? Was she really pleased? Doyou think they, the foreigners, really like me? I don't think so; on thecontrary I know they haven't forgotten the Boxer Rising in Kwang Hsu's26th year. I don't mind owning up that I like our old ways the best, andI don't see any reason why we should adopt the foreign style. Did any ofthe foreign ladies ever tell you that I am a fierce-looking old woman?"I was very much surprised that she should call me in and ask me suchquestions during her meal. She looked quite serious and it seemed tome she was quite annoyed. I assured her that no one ever said anythingabout Her Majesty but nice things. The foreigners told me how nice shewas, and how graceful, etc. This seemed to please her, and she smiledand said: "Of course they have to tell you that, just to make you feelhappy by saying that your sovereign is perfect, but I know better. Ican't worry too much, but I hate to see China in such a poor condition. Although the people around me seem to comfort me by telling that almostevery nation feels very friendly towards China, I don't think that istrue. I hope we will be strong some day. " While she was saying this Inoticed her worried expression. I did not know what to say, but tried tocomfort her by saying that that time will come, and we are all lookingforward to it. I wanted to advise her on some points, but seeing thatshe was angry, I thought I had better not make any suggestions thatday, but wait until I had another opportunity. I felt sorry for her, andwould have given anything in the world to help her by telling what thegeneral opinion of her was so as to let her know the truth, which no onedared to tell her. Something told me to be silent. I kept thinking allthe time she was talking to me, and finally made up my mind that thetime was not yet ripe for me to make any suggestion. I had grown to loveher very much, so I wanted to take care not to offend her; that wouldprobably finish my ambition. I wanted to study her first thoroughly andthen try to influence her to reform China. 

I stood all the time while she was eating. She got up from the tableand handed me her napkin (this napkin was made of a piece of silk a yardsquare, woven in many colors). One corner was turned in, and a goldenbutterfly was fastened to it. It had a hook at the back of thisbutterfly so as to hook on her collar. She said: "I am sure you must behungry. Go and tell the Young Empress and the rest of the people to comeand eat. You can eat anything you want from these tables, so eat all youcan. " I was very, very hungry. Just imagine, I had been up since 5:00o'clock and had only a light breakfast, and had walked a great deal. It was almost noon when Her Majesty sat down at her table. She ate soslowly, too. While I stood there talking to her I thought she wouldnever finish. She ate a good meal. The Young Empress stood at the headof the table, and we all stood on either side. We did not like to beforward, so we stood at the other end of the table. The food was verymuch the same as the first day we were there. Her Majesty came out fromthe inner room, had just finished washing her face and hands, and hadchanged into another gown. This one was simple, but very pretty. It waswoven with pink and gray raw silks, which gave it a changeable lightwhenever she moved. She came out and said: "I want to see you peopleeat; why is it that you are standing at the end of the table, the bestdishes are not there? All of you come over here and eat near the YoungEmpress. " So we moved from our end of the table to the other. HerMajesty stood near me, and pointed to a smoked fish and wanted me to tryit, as it was her favorite, and said: "Make yourselves at home. You knowyou have to fight your own battles here with this crowd. Of course youcan come and tell me if anyone does not treat you fair. " Her Majestythen went out, saying that she would walk a bit. I noticed that some ofthe court ladies did not look pleased, seeing that Her Majesty paid somuch attention to us. I could see they were a little jealous of me, butthat did not worry me in the least. 

After we got through our luncheon, I followed the Young Empress, for itwas all so new to me, and I did not know what I must do--whether to joinHer Majesty or not. After seeing that they were jealous of me, I paidstrict attention to everything, so as not to make any mistake in doingmy work and let them have the satisfaction of laughing at me. I wouldnot give them the chance. I heard Her Majesty talking to the eunuchs wholooked after the garden, about some branches which ought to be cut down, saying they were lazy. So we went to her. She said to us: "You seeI have to look after everything myself, if not, my flowers would beruined. I can't depend on them at all. I wonder what they are good for. They ought to look around every day and cut down the dead branchesand leaves. They have not been punished for several days and they arelooking forward to it. " She laughed and said: "I will not disappointthem, but give them all they wish to have. " I thought these people mustbe idiots, looking forward to a whipping, and wondered who would whipthem. Her Majesty turned to me and said: "Have you ever witnessed suchan operation?" I told her that I had, having seen the convicts beingwhipped at a Magistrate's Yamen when I was a little girl living atShansi (on the Yangtsze). She said: "That is nothing. The convicts arenot half so wicked as these eunuchs. Of course they deserve a heavierpunishment when they are bad. " Her Majesty said that I should learn toplay dice with her, as she never had enough people to play with, so wewent back to the same room where she had taken her lunch. A squaretable was in the middle of this large room and a little throne of HerMajesty's, facing south (her favorite direction). Her Majesty sat on herthrone and said to me: "I will show you how to play this game. Do youthink you know enough Chinese to read this map?" I noticed a large map, the same size as the table, and laid upon it, drawn in different colors. In the center of the map was written the direction of the game. It said:"This game is called the 'Eight Fairies Travel across the Sea. ' Thenames are Lu Hsien, Chang Hsien, Li Hsien, Lan Hsien, Hang Hsien, TsaoHsien and Hain Hsien. These seven were masculine fairies. Hor Hsien wasthe only lady fairy. " This map was the map of the Chinese Empire, andthe names of the different provinces were written on the drawing. Therewere eight pieces of round ivory, about one inch and a half in diameterand a quarter of an inch thick. The names of these fairies were engravedupon them. This game could be played either by eight people or fourpeople, when each person had to take two fairies' places, instead ofone. A porcelain bowl was placed in the center of the map, to comparethe point by throwing six dice into the bowl. For instance, four peopleplay. One throws these six dice into the bowl and counts the points onthem. The highest that one could get was 36, and should 36 be thrown thefairy should go to Hangehow to enjoy the beautiful scenery. This personthrew dice for Lu Hsien and had 36 points and placed this ivory piece ofLu Hsien on Hangehow upon the map. The same person has to throw anothertime for another fairy, so each person throws twice if four people playthe game, and once if played by eight. These different points countdifferent provinces. They are counted thus:--Six dice alike. One pairin six dice, to three pairs. The lowest was the double 1, 2, 3. Ifany unfortunate fairy got this he should go on exile and be left outaltogether. Any one of the fairies that travelled round the map to reachthe Imperial Palace, the first, was the winner. 

I read this to Her Majesty. She seemed to be quite pleased, and said: "Ihad no idea that you could read so well. This game was my own inventionand I taught three Court ladies to play. I had a very hard time teachingthem. I also taught them how to read Chinese in order to play the game, but it took them so long to learn anything that I got quite discouragedbefore I got through with them. I am sure you know how to play itnow. " I was very much surprised to hear that these Court ladies were asignorant as this. I thought they must be excellent scholars, so did notdare to show my knowledge of Chinese literature. We began to play thegame. Her Majesty was lucky. The two fairies held by her were way aheadof ours. One of the Court ladies said to me: "You will be surprised tosee that Lao Tsu Tsung is always the winner. " Her Majesty smiled andsaid to me: "You will never be able to catch my fairies. " She said: "Youare the first day here to play this game and if any of your fairies beatany of mine I will give you a nice present, so hurry up. " I thoughtI could never get ahead of her fairies, for they were so far aheadof mine, but I tried hard, as Her Majesty told me to call out for thepoints I wanted. I did, but it came out something so different that itamused her a great deal. I had no idea how long we were playing thisgame. We counted who came next, and that was one of my fairies, so HerMajesty said to me: "I was sure you could not beat me, as no one could. Seeing that yours are next to mine, I will give you the present just thesame. " While she was saying this she told a servant girl to bring hersome embroidered handkerchiefs. This girl brought several colored onesto her, and she asked me what color I preferred. She handed me a pinkone and a pale blue one, all embroidered with purple wisteria, and said:"These two are the best, and I want you to take them. " I was just goingto thank her by bowing to the ground, but I found that my legs could notmove. I tried hard and succeeded finally, with difficulty. Her Majestylaughed very heartily at me and said: "You see you are not accustomed tostanding so long and you cannot bend your knees any more. " Although mylegs were sore I thought I had better not show it, but smiled and toldher that it was nothing, only my legs were a little stiff, that was all. She said: "You must go and sit on the veranda and rest a minute. " I wasonly too glad to sit down, so I went to the veranda and found the YoungEmpress sitting there with several Court ladies. The Young Empress said:"You must be tired standing so long. Come and sit near me. " My legs werevery stiff and my back was tired. Of course Her Majesty did not know howuncomfortable we were while she was sitting on her cozy throne. Foreignattire is out of the question for the Imperial Palace of Peking. I hadhoped that Her Majesty would tell us to change into our Manchu gowns. Inoticed that she asked many questions every day about foreign costumes, and she said: "The foreign costume is not any prettier than ours andI should say they must be quite uncomfortable round one's waist. Iwouldn't be squeezed that way for anything. " Although she was sayingsuch things she did not suggest that we should give them up, so we hadto wait patiently for her orders. The Young Empress took her watch outof her pocket, and said to me: "This game has lasted just two hours. " Isaid to her that it seemed to me longer than that. While we were talkingI saw our own eunuchs bringing four round boxes, made of thin board, carried at each end of bamboo poles. They put them down near where wesat, and one of them brought me a cup of tea. When my mother and sistercame the same eunuch brought another two cups, and there were severalCourt ladies talking with us. This eunuch did not give them any. Inoticed at the other end of this long veranda there were another twoboxes, exactly the same as these, and a big tall eunuch made tea andbrought it to the Young Empress in a yellow porcelain cup, with a silversaucer and a silver top cover. He did not give any to the others. 

I was puzzled when one of the Court ladies sitting next to me said:"Would you mind telling Wang (our head eunuch) to give me a cup of yourtea, just to save me the trouble to go and get it from the small room atthe end of this long veranda?" I gave her such a surprised look, for Idid not know that this was our tea, but I thought I'd just tell Wang tobring her a cup, and find out afterwards the reason, for I would giveanything in the world rather than appear ignorant before those people. While we were talking Her Majesty came out. Before she reached theveranda I got up and told the Young Empress that Her Majesty was coming. I saw her first because I sat facing her back hall. Her Majesty said tous all: "It is almost three o'clock now, and I am going to rest a while. Let us leave here. " We all stood in a line for her to enter her chair, and then we went to ours. It was quite a fast ride and we got out ofour chairs before arriving at the courtyard of her own Palace. We walkedahead of her chair and formed into another line for her to alight. Shewalked to her bedroom and we all followed. A eunuch brought her a cup ofhot water and another brought a bowl of sugar. She took her golden spoonand took two teaspoonfuls of sugar and put it into her cup of hot water, and drank it very slowly. She said: "You know before one goes to sleepor ever lies down, sugar water will quiet one's nerves. I always takeit, and find it very good indeed. " She took the flowers off from herheaddress and I fixed them back in their boxes at once, and placed themin the jewel-room. When I came out of this jewel-room she was in bedalready, and said to us: "You all go and rest a while. I don't need younow. "

CHAPTER EIGHT--THE COURT LADIES

WE retired from her room, but I noticed that two of the Court ladies didnot come out with us. One of them said to me: "I am glad that I can resta bit to-day, for I have been sitting three afternoons in succession. "At first I did not know what she meant. Then she said: "Oh, your turnhas not come yet. We don't know whether you received the order or not. You know two of us must stay with Her Majesty during her afternoonsiesta, to watch the eunuchs and the servant girls. " I thought that wasthe funniest thing I had ever heard of, and wondered how many peoplewould be in her room. The Young Empress said: "We had better go at onceand rest ourselves, otherwise Her Majesty will be up again before we getthe chance. " Of course I had not the least idea how long she slept. Sowe went back to our rooms. I did not realize how tired I was until I satdown in my room. I felt finished and awfully sleepy at the same time, for I was not used to getting up at 5 o'clock. Everything was so newto me. As I sat there my thoughts wandered to Paris, and I thought howstrange it was that I used to go to bed at 5 o'clock after the dances, and here I had to get up at such a time. All the surroundings seemed newto me, seeing the eunuchs running here and there waiting on us, as ifthey were chambermaids. I told them that I didn't need them any more. Iwanted them to go out of the room so that I could lie down a bit. Theybrought us tea and different kinds of candies, and asked what else waswanted. I was just going to change into a comfortable dress, when theeunuch came in and informed me that "Yo ker lila" (visitors have come), and two Court ladies came, and another girl of about seventeen camein. I had seen her that very morning when I came to the Palace, busyworking, but I was not introduced to her. These two girls said: "We havecome to see you and also to find out if you are comfortable. " I thoughtthey were kind to come and see me that way, but I did not like theirfaces. They introduced this mean-looking girl to me and told me hername was Chun Shou (Graceful Long Life). She did not look as if her lifewould last long, being so thin and delicate. She looked sick and wornout to me. I did not know who she was. She courtesied to me and Ireturned to her, in a sort of half way. (I will explain about thecourtesy. )

(To Her Majesty, the Emperor and the Young Empress, we went down andbent our knees, while we stood upright to the people of lower rankthan ourselves. In this case one must always wait while the inferiorcourtesies first, and bend the knees a little bit in return. This wasthe way I returned Chun Shou's courtesy to me. ) The two girls thensaid "Chun Shou's father is only a small official, so she has not muchstanding at the Court. She is not exactly a Court lady, but she is nota servant girl either. " I almost laughed right out, to hear such a funnystatement, and wondered what she must be. I saw her sitting down withthe Court ladies that very morning, so of course I asked her to sitdown, too. These two Court ladies asked me if I felt tired, and how Iliked the Empress Dowager. I told them that Her Majesty was the mostlovely lady I had ever seen, and that I already loved her very much, although I had only been there a few days. They looked at Chun Shou andexchanged smiles. They did that in such a peculiar way that it annoyedme. They asked: "Do you think you would like to live in this place, andhow long do you intend to stay?" I said I would love to stay long, andwould do my best to wait on Her Majesty, and be useful to her, for shehad been so kind towards us in the short time we had been there, andbesides, it was my duty to serve my sovereign and country. They laughedand said: "We pity you, and are sorry for you. You must not expect anyappreciation here, no matter how hard you work. If you are really goingto do as you have said just now, you will be disliked by everybody. "

I did not know what they were talking about, or what their conversationreferred to. I thought this was so strange that I had better put a stopto it, so I immediately changed the subject. I asked them who dressedtheir hair, and who made their shoes for them, as they had asked me. They answered my questions by saying that their maids did everything forthem. Chun Shou said to these two girls: "Tell her everything about thisPalace, and I am sure she will change her mind when she actually seesthings for herself. " I didn't like this Chun Shou, and her face didn'timpress me. She was a little bit of a thing, tiny head with thin lips. When she laughed one could only hear the noise she made; no expressionwas on her face at all. I was just going to say something to them, so asnot to give them the opportunity of gossiping, but found they were toocunning. They noticed that I tried every way to stop them, so they said:"Now let us tell you everything. No one else will know. We like you verymuch and we want to give you some warning, so as to be able to protectyourself whenever you are in trouble. " I told them that I would takegreat care to do my work and didn't think that I would ever get intotrouble. They laughed and said: "That makes no difference. Her Majestywill find fault. " I could not believe these things that they said, andintended to tell them that I refused to hear such statements, but Ithought I had better listen to what they had to say first and not tooffend them, for I never believed in making enemies. I then told themthat it would be impossible for so sweet and kind-hearted a person likeLao Tsu Tsung (the old ancestor) to find fault with such helpless girlsas we were, for we were her people, and she could do anything she likedwith us. They said: "You don't know, and have no idea how wicked thisplace is; such torture and suffering one could not imagine. We are surethat you think you must be happy to be with the great Empress Dowager, and proud to be her Court Lady. Your day hasn't come yet, for you allare new to her. Yes, she is extremely kind to you just now, but waituntil she gets tired of you and then see what she will do. We have hadenough, and know what the Court life is. Of course you must have heardthat Li Lien Ying (the head eunuch) rules this Palace behind Lao TsuTsung's back. We are all afraid of him. He pretends that he cannotinfluence Lao Tsu Tsung, but we always know the result after a longconversation consulting how to punish anyone. If any of us do anythingwrong, we always go to him and beg him to help us out. Then he says hehas no power to influence Her Majesty, and also that he dare not tellher much, for she would scold him. We hate all the eunuchs, they aresuch bad people. We can see very plainly they are awfully polite to youbecause they can see that you are in favor. To receive such rudenessfrom them, constantly, as we do, is unbearable. 

"Lao Tsu Tsung is very changeable. She may like one person to-day, to-morrow she hates this same person worse than poison. She has moods, and has no appreciation whatsoever. Even Chu Tzu, the Young Empress (ChuTzu means Mistress, that is to say she was mistress of us all, for theManchus were considered by the sovereign as slaves) is afraid of Li LienYing, and has to be very nice to him. In fact, we all have to be politeto him. " They talked so long that I thought they would never finish. About this time Wang came in and brought tea for us. Suddenly I heardpeople howling in the distance, so I asked Wang what was the matter. Thegirls were listening also and a eunuch came flying in and told us LaoFo Yeh chin la (The Great Buddha wakes up). The girls got up and saidwe must all go to see her, so they went. I was not at all pleased withtheir visit, and wished they hadn't come, especially as they told mesuch horrible things. It made me quite sad to listen to the awful waythey talked about Her Majesty. I loved her the first day I was there, and made up my mind to forget everything they had told me. 

I was cross also because I didn't have time to change my clothes, andhad to go up to Her Majesty at once. I went into her bedroom, and foundher sitting upon the bed cross-legged, with a small table placed on thebed in front of her. She smiled and asked: "Have you had a good rest?Did you sleep at all?" I said that I was not sleepy, and could not sleepin the daytime. She said: "When you are old like me, you will be able tosleep at any time. Just now you are young, and fond of play. I think youmust have been on the hills to gather flowers, or walked too much, foryou look tired. " I could only say "Yes. " The two Court ladies who hadjust been talking nonsense about Her Majesty came in, to assist inhanding her the toilet articles. I looked at them, and felt ashamed forthem to face her, after having said so many disagreeable things. HerMajesty washed her face and combed her hair, and a servant girl broughther fresh flowers, of white jasmine and roses. Her Majesty stuck them inher hair and said to me: "I am always fond of fresh flowers--better thanjade and pearls. I love to see the little plants grow, and I water themmyself. I have been so busy ever since you came that I haven't been ableto visit my plants. Tell them to get the dinner ready and I will take awalk afterwards. " I came out of her room and gave the eunuch the order. As usual we brought little dainties to her. By this time Her Majesty wasdressed and was sitting in the large hall, playing solitaire with herdominoes. The eunuch laid the tables as usual, and Her Majesty stoppedplay, and commenced to eat. She asked me: "How do you like this kindof life?" I told her that I very much enjoyed being with her. She said:"What kind of a place is this wonderful Paris I have heard so muchabout? Did you enjoy yourself while you were there, and do you wish togo back again? It must be hard for you people to leave China for threeor four years, and I suppose you were all pleased when you received theorder to come back, after your father's term was finished. "

The only thing I could say was "Yes, " because it wouldn't be nice totell her that I was awfully sorry to leave Paris. She said: "I think wehave everything in China, only the life is different. What is dancing?Someone told me that two people hold hands and jump all over the room. If that is the case I don't see any pleasure in it at all. Do you haveto jump up and down with men? They told me that old women, with whitehair, dance, too. " I explained to her about the balls given by thePresident, and all the private dances, and also all about the masqueradeballs, etc. Her Majesty said: "I don't like this masquerade ball becauseyou don't know whom you are dancing with if they are wearing a mask. " Iexplained to her how carefully the people issued their invitations, andthat anyone who behaved badly could never enter into high society. Her Majesty said: "I would like to see how you jump, can you show me alittle?" I went in search of my sister, and found her busy talking tothe Young Empress. I told her that Her Majesty wished to see how peopledance, and that we must show her. The Young Empress and all the Courtladies heard this, and all said that they also wished to see. My sistersaid that she had noticed a large gramophone in Her Majesty's bedroom, and that perhaps we could find some music. I thought that was a goodidea, and went to ask her for the gramophone. She said: "Oh, must youjump with music?" I almost laughed when she said that, and told her itwas much nicer with music, as otherwise one could not keep in time. She ordered the eunuchs to have the gramophone brought to the hall, and said: "You jump while I take my dinner. " We looked over a lot ofrecords, but they were all Chinese songs, but at last we found a waltz, so we started to dance. We could see that a lot of people were lookingat us, who perhaps thought that we were crazy. When we had finished wefound Her Majesty laughing at us. She said: "I could never do that. Areyou not dizzy turning round and round? I suppose your legs must bevery tired also. It is very pretty, and just like the girls used to docenturies ago in China. I know that it is difficult and one ought tohave any amount of grace to do it, but I don't think it would look niceto see a man dancing with a girl like that. I object to the hand aroundthe girl's waist; I like to see the girls dance together. It would neverdo for China for a girl to get too close to a man. I know the foreignersdon't seem to think about that at all. It shows that they are broaderminded than us. Is it true that the foreigners don't respect theirparents at all-that they could beat their parents and drive them out ofthe house?" I told her that it was not so, and that someone had givenher wrong ideas about foreigners. Then she said: "I know that perhapssometimes one among the commonest class do that, and that people are aptto take it wrong, and conclude that all foreigners treat their parentsthat way. Now I see just the same thing done by the common people inChina. " I wondered who had told her such nonsense and made her believeit. 

After we had taken our dinner it was just half-past five, and HerMajesty said she would take a walk along the long veranda, so wefollowed her. She showed me her flowers, and said that she had plantedthem herself. Whenever Her Majesty went anywhere there was always a lotof attendants following her, exactly the same as when she went to themorning audiences. When we reached the end of this long veranda, whichtook us a quarter of an hour to walk, Her Majesty ordered her stool tobe brought into one of the summer houses. These summer houses were builtof nothing but bamboo, all the furniture being made of different shapedbamboo. Her Majesty sat down, and one of the eunuchs brought tea andhoneysuckle flowers. She ordered the eunuchs to give us tea also. HerMajesty said: "This is my simple way of enjoying life. I love to see thecountry scenery. There are a great many pretty places which I willshow you and I am sure that after you have seen them you will not likeforeign countries any more. There is no scenery in the world which canbeat the Chinese. Some returned Ministers from abroad said to me thatthe trees and mountains in foreign countries looked ugly and savage. Isthat true?" I concluded right away that someone had wished to pleaseher by saying things about foreigners, so I told her that I had been inalmost every country, and had found lovely scenery, but of course it wasdifferent from China. While we were talking Her Majesty said that shefelt chilly and asked: "Are you cold? You see you have your own eunuchs, they are all standing around, and have nothing to do. Next time tellthem to carry your wraps along with you. I think that foreign clothesmust be quite uncomfortable either too warm or too cold. I don't see howyou can eat, having your waist squeezed that way. " Her Majesty got upand we all went on walking slowly towards her own Palace. She sat downon her favorite little throne in the hall and started to play solitaire. We came out on the veranda, and the Young Empress said to us: "You mustbe tired, for I know you are not used to doing such hard work all daylong without stopping. You had better wear Manchu clothes, because theyare comfortable and easy to work in. Look at your long train; you haveto take it up in your hands while walking. "

I told her that I would be only too pleased to change the clothes, butthat not having received an order from Her Majesty I could not make anysuggestions. The Young Empress said: "No, don't ask anything, and I amsure Her Majesty will tell you to change by and by. Just now she wishesto see your Paris gowns, because she wants to know how foreign ladiesdress on different occasions. She thought that some of the ladies cameto the Garden Party dressed in woolen clothes. We thought that foreignladies were not so extravagant as we are until we met Mdme. Plancon theother day. Do you remember what Her Majesty said to you? 'That Mdme. Plancon was so different from many ladies she had met, and also dresseddifferently. '" It was a chiffon dress, with hand paintings, which Mdme. Plancon wore, which pleased Her Majesty very much. While I was talkingwith the Young Empress all the electric lights turned up, so I went toHer Majesty to see if she needed anything. She said: "Let us play a gameof dice before I go to bed. " We began to play the same thing as we haddone in the afternoon. Her Majesty won another game, this time it tookonly an hour to finish the game. Her Majesty said to me: "Why can't youwin once?" I knew she wanted to tease, so I said that my luck was bad. She laughed and said: "To-morrow you try to put your stocking on wrongside out; that is a sure sign of winning. " I told her that I would, and I knew that pleased her. During the short time I was there I keptstudying her most of the while. I could see nothing would make herhappier than for me to obey her orders. Her Majesty said that she felttired, and that we must bring her milk. She said to me: "I want you toburn incense sticks and bow to the ground every night to the Buddha inthe next room before I go to bed. I hope you are not a Christian, for ifyou are I can never feel as if you are mine at all. Do tell me that youare not. " I did not expect that question at all, and I must say that itwas a very difficult question to answer. For my own protection I hadto say that I had nothing to do with the Christians. I felt guilty athaving deceived her that way, but it was absolutely necessary, and therewas no other way out of it. I knew that I had to answer her questionat once, because it would never do for her to see any hesitation, whichwould arouse her suspicions. Although my face showed nothing, my heartstopped beating for a while. I felt ashamed to have fooled her. Theearliest training I had was never to be ashamed to tell the truth. WhenHer Majesty heard me say that I was not a Christian, she smiledand said: "I admire you; although you have had so much to do withforeigners, yet you did not adopt their religion. On the contrary, youstill keep to your own. Be strong and keep it as long as you live. Youhave no idea how glad I am now, for I suspected you must believe in theforeign God. Even if you don't want to, they can make you believe it. Now I am ready for bed. "

We helped her to undress, and I, as usual, put away her jewels, andnoticed she wore only one pair of jade bracelets to sleep. She changedinto her bed clothes and lay down between the silk covers and saidto us: "You can go now. " We courtesied to her and withdrew from herbedroom. Out in the hall there was on the cold stone floor six eunuchs. They were the watchmen and must not sleep at all during the night. Inher bedroom were two eunuchs, two servant girls, two old women servantsand sometimes two Court ladies. These people also must not sleep. Thetwo girls massaged her legs every night, and the two women were there towatch the girls, the two eunuchs to watch the two old women, and the twoCourt ladies to watch them all, in case they did any mischief. They alltook turns, and that was the reason why sometimes two Court ladies mustsit overnight when it happened that the eunuchs were not reliable. HerMajesty trusted the Court ladies the most. I was never more surprisedin my life than when one of these six eunuchs told me in the hall, for Ihad asked what they were all doing there. 

Later on one of the Court ladies said to me that it was customary forthem to take turns to attend at Her Majesty's bedchamber in the morningto wake her up, and that I should take my turn the next morning and mysister the following morning. While saying this she smiled in a mostpeculiar way. I did not understand at the time, but found out later. Iasked her what I should do to wake Her Majesty, and she said: "Thereis no particular way, you will have to use your own judgment; but becareful not to make her angry. It was my turn this morning. I knew thatshe was very tired, having had a very trying time the day before, so Ihad to make a little more noise than usual when waking her. She was veryangry and scolded me dreadfully when she arose, as it was rather late. This very often happens when Her Majesty gets up late, as she alwayssays that we do not make enough noise to wake her. However, I don'tthink she will do this to you, just now, as you are new here; but waituntil you have been here a few months. " What this Court lady said to meworried me quite considerably; but from what I had seen of Her Majestyso far, I could not believe that she would be angry with anyone who wasdoing her duty properly. 

CHAPTER NINE--THE EMPEROR KWANG HSU

THE next day I arose earlier than usual and dressed in a great hurry, asI feared I might be late. When I got to Her Majesty's Palace there werea few Court ladies there sitting on the veranda. They smiled and askedme to sit down with them as it was still too early, being only fiveo'clock. I had been told to wake Her Majesty at five thirty. The YoungEmpress came up a few minutes later and we all courtesied and wished her"good morning. " After talking with us a few minutes, she asked if HerMajesty was awake and which one of us was on duty that day. When Iinformed her that it was my turn, she immediately ordered me to go toHer Majesty's room at once. I went very quietly and found some servantgirls standing about and one Court lady, who was sitting on the floor. She had been on duty all night. When she saw me she got up and whisperedto me, that now that I had come, she would go and change her clothes andbrush up a bit, and for me not to leave the room until Her Majesty wasawake. After this Court lady had gone, I went near to the bed and said:"Lao Tsu Tsung, it is half-past five. " She was sleeping with her facetoward the wall, and without looking to see who had called her, shesaid: "Go away and leave me alone. I did not tell you to call me athalf-past five. Call me at six, " and immediately went off to sleepagain. I waited until six and called her again. She woke and said: "Thisis dreadful. What a nuisance you are. " After she had said this, shelooked around and saw me standing by the bed. "Oh! it is you, is it? Whotold you to come and wake me?" I replied: "One of the Court ladies toldme that it was my turn to be on duty in Lao Tsu Tsung's bedchamber. ""That is funny. How dare they give orders without receiving instructionsfrom me first? They know that this part of their duty is not verypleasant and have put it off on you because they know you are new here. "I made no reply to this. I got along as best I could that day and foundit no easy matter, as Her Majesty was very exacting in everything. However, the next time I managed to divert her attention to things newor interesting in order to take her mind off of what she was doing, andin this way had much less trouble getting her out of bed. 

My reader can't imagine how very glad we were to get back to our rooms, and it was just 10:30 P. M. I was very tired and sleepy, so I undressedand went to bed at once. I think that as soon as my head touched thepillow I was asleep. 

The following day there was the same thing, the usual audience in themorning, of course busy all the time, which went on for fifteen daysbefore I realized it. I began to take great interest in the Court life, and liked it better every day. Her Majesty was very sweet and kind to usalways, and took us to see the different places in the Summer Palace. Wewent to see Her Majesty's farm, situated on the west side of the lake, and had to cross over a high bridge to get there. This bridge is calledTu Tai Chiao (Jade Girdle Bridge). Her Majesty often took us under thisbridge in a boat, or we walked round on the border. She seemed very fondof sitting on the top of this bridge on her stool and taking her tea, in fact this was one of her favorite places. She used to go and seeher farm once every four or five days, and it always pleased her ifshe could take some vegetables and rice or corn from her own farm. Shecooked these things herself in one of the courtyards. I thought thatwas good fun, and also turned up my sleeves to help her cook. We broughtfresh eggs also from the farm and Her Majesty taught us how to cook themwith black tea leaves. 

Her Majesty's cooking stoves were very peculiar. They were made ofbrass, lined with bricks. They could be moved anywhere, for they hadno chimneys. Her Majesty told me to boil the eggs first until they werehard, and to crack them but to keep the shells on, and add half a cup ofblack tea, salt and spices. Her Majesty said: "I like the country life. It seems more natural than the Court life. I am always glad to see youngpeople having fun, and not such grand dames when we are by ourselves. Although I am not young any more, I am still very fond of play. " HerMajesty would taste first what we had been cooking, and would give usall to taste. She asked: "Do you not think this food has more flavorthan that prepared by the cooks?" We all said it was fine. So we spentthe long days at the Court having good fun. 

I saw Emperor Kwang Hsu every morning, and whenever I had the time hewould always ask some words in English. I was surprised to learn that heknew quite a bit of spelling, too. I found him extremely interesting. Hehad very expressive eyes. He was entirely a different person when he wasalone with us. He would laugh and tease, but as soon as he was in thepresence of Her Majesty he would look serious, and as if he were worriedto death. At times he looked stupid. I was told by a great many peoplewho were presented to him at the different audiences that he did notlook intelligent, and that he would never talk. I knew better, for Iused to see him every day. I was at the Court long enough to study him, and found him to be one of the most intelligent men in China. He was acapital diplomat and had wonderful brains, only he had no opportunities. Now a great many people have asked me the same question, if our EmperorKwang Hsu had any courage or brains. Of course outsiders have no ideahow strict the law is, and the way we have to respect our parents. Hewas compelled to give up a great many things on account of the law. Ihave had many long talks with him and found him a wise man, withany amount of patience. His life was not a happy one; ever since hischildhood his health was poor. He told me that he never had studiedliterature very much, but it came natural to him. He was a born musicianand could play any instrument without studying. He loved the piano, andwas always after me to teach him. There were several beautiful grandpianos at the Audience Hall. He had very good taste for foreign music, too. I taught him some easy waltzes and he kept the time beautifully. Ifound him a good companion and a good friend, and he confided in me andtold me his troubles and sorrows. We talked a great deal about westerncivilization, and I was surprised to learn he was so well informed ineverything. He used to tell me, time after time, his ambitions for thewelfare of his country. He loved his people and would have done anythingto help them whenever there was famine or flood. I noticed that hefelt for them. I know that some eunuchs gave false reports about hischaracter, --that he was cruel, etc. I had heard the same thing beforeI went to the Palace. He was kind to the eunuchs, but there was alwaysthat distinction between the master and the servants. He would neverallow the eunuchs to speak to him unless they were spoken to, and neverlistened to any kind of gossip. I lived there long enough, and I knowjust what kind of cruel people those eunuchs were. They had no respectfor their master. They came from the lowest class of people from thecountry, had no education, no morals, no feeling for anything, not evenbetween themselves. The outside world has heard so many things againstHis Majesty, the Emperor Kwang Hsu's character, but I assure my readersthat these things were told by the eunuchs to their families, and ofcourse they always stretched it out as far as possible in order tomake the conversation interesting. The majority of the people living inPeking get all kinds of information through them. I have witnessed thesame thing many a time during my stay at the Palace. 

One day during the time of Her Majesty's afternoon rest we heard adreadful noise. It sounded just like the firing off of fire-crackers. Such a noise was quite unusual in the Palace for such things are notallowed to be brought into the Palace grounds. Of course Her Majestywoke up. In a few seconds time everyone became excited and were runningto and fro as if the building was on fire. Her Majesty was giving ordersand telling the eunuchs to be quiet, but no one listened to her and keptyelling and running around like crazy people, all talking at the sametime. Her Majesty was furious and ordered us to bring the yellow bagto her. (I must explain about this bag. It was made of ordinary yellowcloth and contained bamboo sticks of all sorts and sizes and are made tobeat the eunuchs, servant girls and old women servants with. ) Thisbag was carried everywhere Her Majesty went, to be handy in case ofemergency. Everyone of us knew where this bag was kept. We took all thesticks from the bag and Her Majesty ordered us to go to the courtyardand beat the eunuchs. It was such a funny sight to see all the Courtladies and servant girls each with a stick trying to separate theexcited crowd. On my part I thought I was having good fun so I laughedand found the rest were laughing too. Her Majesty was standing on theveranda watching us but she was too far away to see well and with allthat noise, we knew she could not hear us laughing. We tried our bestto separate the crowd, but were laughing so much we did not have enoughstrength to hurt any of them. All of a sudden all the eunuchs becamequiet and stopped talking, for one of them saw the head eunuch, Li LienYing, followed by all his attendants coming towards them. Everyoneof them became frightened and stood there like statues. We stoppedlaughing, too, and turned back each with a stick in our hand, walkingtoward Her Majesty. Li Lien Ying was having a nap, too, and had heardthe noise and had come to enquire what the trouble was and to report itto Her Majesty. It seemed one of the young eunuchs caught a crow. (Theeunuchs hated crows, as they are considered an unlucky bird. The peoplein China called eunuchs crows because they were very disagreeable. Thatwas the reason why the eunuchs hated them so. ) They always set traps tocatch them and then tied a huge fire-cracker to their legs, set fire tothe cracker and then set the unfortunate birds free. Naturally the poorbirds would be glad to fly away and by the time the powder explodedwould be high up in the air and the poor bird would be blown to pieces. It seemed this was not the first time the eunuchs had played this crueltrick. I was told it always delighted them so much to see blood andtorture. They always invited others to drink some wine with them tocelebrate an occasion such as this. This cruel deed was always doneoutside of the wall of the Audience Hall but that day the crow flewtowards Her Majesty's own Palace while she was sleeping and the powderexploded while the bird was passing the courtyard. After the head eunuchhad told Her Majesty what had happened, she was very angry and orderedthat this young eunuch be brought in and receive punishment in herpresence. I noticed one of the head eunuch's attendants push the culpritout from the crowd. The head eunuch immediately gave orders to lay thisman on the ground and two eunuchs stood on each side of him and beat himon his legs with two heavy bamboo sticks one at a time. The victim neveruttered a word while this was going on. The head eunuch counted untilthis man had received one hundred blows, then he gave orders to stop. Then he knelt in front of Her Majesty waiting for her orders and atthe same time kowtowed on the ground until his head made a noise on thestone steps, asking to be punished for his carelessness and neglect ofduty. Her Majesty said that it was not his fault and ordered him to takethe offender away. During all this time the offender was still on theground, and did not dare to move. Two eunuchs each took hold of a footand dragged him out of the courtyard. We were all afraid even to breathealoud for fear Her Majesty would say that we were pretending to befrightened at witnessing this punishment, at the same time when itwas over we would go and gossip about how cruel she was. No one wassurprised at what had happened, as we were accustomed to seeing italmost every day and were quite used to it. I used to pity them, but Ichanged my mind very soon after I had arrived. 

The first person I saw punished was a servant girl, she had made amistake about Her Majesty's socks and had brought two which were notmates, Her Majesty finding that out, ordered another servant girl toslap her face ten times on each cheek. This girl did not slap hardenough, so Her Majesty said they were all good friends and would notobey her orders, so she told the one who had been slapped to slap theother. I thought that was too funny for anything and wanted to laughthe worst way, but of course did not dare. That night I asked those twogirls how they felt slapping each other that way. The reason why I askedthem was because they were laughing and joking as usual immediately theywere out of Her Majesty's bedchamber. They told me that was nothing;that they were quite used to it and never bothered themselves about suchsmall things. I in turn soon became used to it, and was as callous asthey were. 

Now regarding the servant girls, they are a much better class of peoplethan the eunuchs. They are the daughters of Manchu soldiers, and muststay ten years at the Palace to wait upon Her Majesty, and then they arefree to marry. One got married after my first month at the Court. HerMajesty gave her a small sum of money, five hundred taels. This girl wasso attached to Her Majesty that it was very hard for her to leavethe Court. She was an extremely clever girl. Her name was Chiu Yuen(Autumn's Cloud). Her Majesty named her that because she was so verydelicate looking and slight. I liked her very much during the short timethat we were together. She told me not to listen to anyone's gossip atthe Court, also that Her Majesty had told her she was very fond of me. On the twenty-second day of the third moon she left the Palace, and wewere all sorry to lose her. Her Majesty did not realize how much shemissed her until after she had gone. For a few days we had nothing buttroubles. It seemed as if everything went wrong. Her Majesty was notat all satisfied without Chiu Yuen. The rest of the servant girls werescared, and tried their best to please Her Majesty, but they had not theability, so we had to help and do a part of their work so as not to makeHer Majesty nervous. Unfortunately, she stopped us, and said: "Youhave enough to do of your own work, and I do not want you to help theservants. You don't please me a bit that way. " She could see that I wasnot accustomed to her ways, for she had spoken severely, so she smiledand said to me: "I know you are good to help them so as not to make meangry, but these servants are very cunning. It isn't that they cannot dotheir work. They know very well that I always select the clever ones towait on me in my bedroom and they don't like that, so they pretend to bestupid and make me angry so that I will send them to do the common work. The eunuchs are worse. They are all afraid to take Chiu Yuen's place. Now I have found them out, and I will only keep the stupid ones to waiton me from now. " I almost laughed when I noticed that they all lookedserious for a moment. I thought these people must be really stupid, andnot lazy, but I had dealings with them every day and found them out allright. The eunuchs don't seem to have any brains at all. They are suchqueer people and have no feelings. They have the same mood all daylong--I should say they are in a cruel mood. Whenever Her Majesty gavean order they always said "Jer" (Yes) and as soon as they got to ourwaiting room they would say to each other: "What was the order? I haveforgotten all about it. " Then they used to come to one of us who hadhappened to be present when the order was given: "Please tell us whatthe order was. I did not listen while Her Majesty was talking. " Weused to laugh and make fun of them. We knew they were afraid to ask HerMajesty, and of course we had to tell them. One of the eunuch writershad to keep writing down the orders that had been given during the day, for Her Majesty wanted to keep records of everything. There were twentyeunuchs who were educated and they were excellent scholars. These hadto answer any questions which Her Majesty happened to ask them aboutChinese literature, while she had a good knowledge of it herself. Inoticed that it pleased her a great deal if anyone could not answer aquestion, or knew less than she did. She took delight in laughing atthem. Her Majesty was also very fond of teasing. She knew that the Courtladies did not know very much about literature, so she used to try it onus. We had to say something whether it was appropriate to her questionsor not, and that would make her laugh. I was told that Her Majesty didnot like anyone to be too clever, and yet she could not bear stupidpeople, so I was rather nervous, and did not know how to act for thefirst three weeks I was there, but it did not take me very long to studyher. She certainly admired clever girls, but she did not like those whowould show their cleverness too much. How I won her heart was this way. Whenever I was with her I used to fix my whole attention on her andwatched her very closely (not staring, for she hated that) and alwayscarried out her orders properly. I noticed another thing, and thatwas that whenever she wanted anything to be brought to her, such ascigarettes, handkerchief, etc. , she would only look at the article andthen look at anyone who happened to be there at the time. (There wasalways a table in the room, on which everything she needed for the daywas placed. ) I got so used to her habits that after a short time Iknew just what she wanted by looking at her eyes, and I was very seldommistaken. This pleased her a great deal. She was strong-minded, and would always act the way she thought was right, and had perfectconfidence in herself. At times I have seen her looking very sad. She had strong emotions, but her will was stronger. She could controlherself beautifully, and yet she liked people to sympathize withher--only by actions, not by words, for she did not like anyone to knowher thoughts. I am sure my readers will think how hard it was to bethe Court lady of Her Majesty, the Empress Dowager of China, but on thecontrary I enjoyed myself very much, as she was so interesting, and Ifound that she was not at all difficult to please. 

The first day of the fourth moon Her Majesty was worried over the lackof rain. She prayed every day after the audience for ten days, withoutany result. Every one of us kept very quiet. Her Majesty did not evengive any orders that day, and spoke to no one. I noticed that theeunuchs were scared, so we went without our luncheon. I worked so hardthat morning, and was so hungry--in fact all the Court ladies were. I felt sorry for Her Majesty. Finally she told me I could go, asshe wanted to rest a while, so we came back to our own quarters. Iquestioned our own eunuch Wang as to why Her Majesty was worrying aboutrain, for we were having lovely weather then, day after day. He told methat Lao Fo Yeh (Old Buddha) was worried for the poor farmers, as alltheir crops were dead without rain for so long. Wang also reminded methat it had not rained once since I came to live at the Palace. I didnot realize that it was so long as two months and seven days, and on theother hand it seemed to me longer than that, for the life was very niceand pleasant, and Her Majesty was very kind to me, as if she had knownme for years already. Her Majesty took very little food at dinner thatnight. There was not a sound anywhere, and everyone kept quiet. TheYoung Empress told us to eat as fast as we could, which puzzled me. Whenwe came back to our waiting room, the Young Empress said to me that HerMajesty was very much worried for the poor farmers and that she wouldpray for rain, and stop eating meat for two or three days. That samenight, before Her Majesty retired, she gave orders that no pigs were tobe slaughtered within the gates of Peking. The reason of this was thatby sacrificing ourselves by not eating meat the Gods would have pity onus and send rain. She also gave orders that everyone should bathe thebody and wash out the mouth in order that we might be cleansed fromall impurities and be ready to fast and pray to the Gods. Also that theEmperor should go to the temple inside the Forbidden City, to perform aceremony of sacrifice (called Chin Tan). He was not to eat meat or holdconverse with anyone, and to pray to the Gods to be merciful and sendrain to the poor farmers. His Majesty, the Emperor Kwang Hsu, wore apiece of jade tablet about three inches square, engraved "Chai Chieh"(the meaning being just like Chin Tan-not to eat meat but to pray threetimes a day), both in Manchu and Chinese, and all the eunuchs who wentwith the Emperor wore the same kind of tablets. The idea was thatthis jade tablet was to remind one to be serious in performing theceremonies. 

The next morning Her Majesty got up very early and ordered me notto bring any jewels for her. She dressed herself in great haste. Herbreakfast was very simple that day, just milk and steamed bread. Our ownbreakfast was cabbage and rice cooked together, with a little salt. Itwas tasteless. Her Majesty did not talk to us at all, except when givingorders, and so, of course, we kept silent. Her Majesty wore a pale graygown, made very plain, with no embroidery or trimmings of any kind. She wore gray shoes to match, not to mention her gray handkerchief. Wefollowed her into the hall where a eunuch knelt with a large branch ofwillow tree. Her Majesty picked a little bunch of leaves and stuck iton her head. The Young Empress did the same, and told us to follow herexample. Emperor Kwang Hsu took a branch and stuck it on his hat. Afterthat Her Majesty ordered the eunuchs and the servant girls to do thesame thing. It was a funny sight, and everyone did look queer with abunch of leaves on the head. The head eunuch came and knelt in front ofHer Majesty and said that everything was prepared for the ceremony inthe little pavilion in front of her own palace. She told us that shepreferred to walk, as she was going to pray. It took us only a fewminutes to cross the courtyard. When we arrived at this pavilion Inoticed a large square table was placed in the center of the room. A fewlarge sheets of yellow paper and a jade slab, containing some vermilionpowder instead of ink, with two little brushes to write with. At eachside of the table stood a pair of large porcelain vases, with two largebranches of willow. Of course no one was allowed to speak, but I wascurious and wanted to find out why everyone had to wear the willowleaves on the head. Her Majesty's yellow satin cushion was placed infront of this table. She stood there and took a piece of sandalwood andplaced it in the incense burner filled with live charcoal. The YoungEmpress whispered to me to go over and help Her Majesty to burn them. I placed several pieces in until she told me that was enough. Then HerMajesty knelt on her cushion, the Young Empress knelt behind her, and weall knelt in a row behind the Young Empress, and commenced to pray. TheYoung Empress taught us that very morning how to say the prayer: "Weworship the Heavens, and beg all the Buddhas to take pity on us and savethe poor farmers from starving. We are willing to sacrifice for them. Pray Heaven send us rain. " We repeated the same prayer three times, andbowed three times--nine times in all. After that Her Majesty went to herusual morning audience. It was much earlier than usual that morning forthe Court was returning to the Forbidden City at noon. His Majesty, theEmperor Kwang Hsu, was to pray at the Forbidden City and Her Majestyalways wanted to accompany him wherever he went. It was nine o'clock inthe morning when the audience was over. She ordered me not to bring anyjewels for her to the Forbidden City this time, for she would not needthem at all. I went to the jewel-room and locked everything up, andplaced the keys in a yellow envelope, sealed it, and placed the envelopeamong the others, and gave them to a eunuch who takes care of thesethings. We packed all her favorite things. Her gowns were the mostimportant things to pack, she had so many and it was impossible to takeall. I noticed that the Court lady who was looking after her gowns wasthe busiest amongst us. She had to select gowns enough to last four orfive days. She told me that she had selected about fifty different ones. I told her that Lao Tsu Tsung might stay at the Forbidden City four orfive days, and that she would not need so many gowns. She said it wassafer to bring many, for one was not sure what would be Her Majesty'sidea for the day. Packing at the Court was very simple. Eunuchs broughtmany yellow trays, which are made of wood, painted yellow, about fivefeet by four feet and one foot deep. We placed a large yellow silk scarfin the tray, then the gowns, and covered them with a thick yellow cloth. Everything was packed the same way. It took us about two hours to packfifty-six trays. These things always started off first, carried by theeunuchs. His Majesty, the Emperor Kwang Hsu, the Young Empress and allthe Court ladies, had to kneel on the ground for Her Majesty's sedanchair to pass the Palace Gate, then we went in search of our own chairs. The procession as usual was pretty, soldiers marching in front of herchair, four young Princes riding on horseback on each side of her, andfrom forty to fifty eunuchs also on horseback behind her, all dressed intheir official robes. The Emperor's chair and the Young Empress' chairwere of the same color as Her Majesty's. The Secondary wife of theEmperor had a deep yellow chair. The chairs of the Court ladies werered, and were carried by four chair bearers, instead of eight like theirMajesties. Our own eunuchs also rode on horseback, behind us. We rode along time, it seemed to me, before I noticed the Emperor's chair beginto descend from the stone-paved road, and we all followed him. I couldsee that Her Majesty's chair was still going straight on, and we took anearer route to reach Wan Shou Si (The long life temple), to await HerMajesty's arrival. We alighted from our chairs and started at once toprepare Her Majesty's tea and her little dishes. I went to help her toalight, and supported her right arm to mount the steps. Her Majestysat on Her Throne, and we placed a table in front of her and my sisterbrought her tea. (The custom was, that if she went anywhere, or duringthe festivals, we must bring to her everything, instead of the eunuchs. )We placed all the dainties in front of her, and then we went to rest. Her Majesty always stopped at this temple on the way from the SummerPalace to the Forbidden City. 

CHAPTER TEN--THE YOUNG EMPRESS

I THOUGHT of so many things while I was riding in my chair. It was aglorious day. I felt sorry for Her Majesty, for she was very quietthat day. Generally she was happy, and made everyone laugh with her. Ithought about the branches of willow, too, but could not understand themeaning. I came out of the hall while Her Majesty was dining with theEmperor, and found the Young Empress sitting in a small room on the leftside of the courtyard, with several Court ladies. When they saw me theymade signs for me to go there. I found them all drinking tea, and theYoung Empress said to me, "I am sure you must be tired and hungry. Come and sit near me and have a cup of tea. " I thanked her and sat downbeside her and we talked of what we saw on the roads and how we hadenjoyed our long ride. She said: "We have still an hour's ride beforewe reach the Forbidden City. " She also talked about the ceremony wehad performed that morning and said that we must all pray earnestly forrain. I could not wait any longer, so I asked her what those branches ofwillow meant. She smiled and told me that willow could bring water, asthe Buddhist religion believes, and that it was an old custom of theCourt wearing willow leaves, when praying for rain. She also told methat we must perform the same ceremony every morning until the raincame. 

We heard Her Majesty talking in the courtyard, and knew that she hadfinished her luncheon, so we went in with the Young Empress, and atewhat was left, as usual. I found the food very nice indeed, although itseemed rather funny without having meat. We came out into the courtyardand saw that Her Majesty was walking up and down. She said to us: "Mylegs are so stiff, riding in the chair. I must walk a little before weleave here. Are you all tired?" We told her that we were not tired, soshe ordered us to walk with her. It looked very funny to see us walkinground and round, Her Majesty in front, and we following her. Her Majestyturned and smiled at us, and said: "We are just like horses taking theirrounds at a stable. " It reminded me of a circus. Li Lien Ying came andknelt down, and said that it was time for Her Majesty to depart, inorder to reach the Forbidden City at the lucky hour she had selected, sowe left Wan Shou Si. All the chairs went very fast, and after an hour'sride we came near the Palace Gate. We followed the Emperor's chair, taking a shorter route, and noticed the gate was wide open. His Majesty, the Emperor, and the Young Empress' chairs went in, but we had to alightand walk in. There were small chairs waiting for us. (As I explainedbefore these little chairs were carried by eunuchs, with a rope acrosstheir shoulders. ) We came to the courtyard of the Audience Hall wherethe Emperor and the Empress were waiting for us. As usual His Majestyknelt in front. Behind him was the Young Empress, and we knelt in a rowbehind her, waiting to welcome Her Majesty to her Palace. She went toher room where the eunuchs had placed everything in order long beforeher arrival. We held the ceremony that afternoon and evening. After HerMajesty had retired we came back to our rooms and found that everythingwas in order, our eunuchs had made up our beds already. It was very niceto have them, for we could not do our own work at all. I was so tiredand my limbs were stiff. I immediately went to sleep and did not realizehow long I had slept until I heard someone knocking at my window. I gotup and pulled the blind away. I noticed that the sky looked dull andthought it was clouded. I felt happy, and thought it might rain, andso relieve Her Majesty. I got dressed in great haste, but much to mydisappointment I saw the sunshine on the opposite windows. 

The Palace in the Forbidden City was so old, and built in such a queerway. The courtyards were small, and the verandas very broad. All therooms were dark. No electric light. We had to use candle light. Onecould not see the sky except by going into the courtyard and lookingup. I found that I had risen before the sun was up, and I was not quiteawake yet, and thought the sky was clouded. I went to Her Majesty's ownPalace and found the Young Empress already there. She was always thefirst and always looked so tidy I often wondered how early she had toget up. She told me that I was not late, although Her Majesty wasawake but not up yet. I went into her bedroom and made my usual morningcourtesy to her. The first thing she asked me was about the weather. Ihad to tell her the truth--that there was no sign of rain. Her Majestygot up, dressed, and had her breakfast as usual, and told us therewould be no audience that morning. The Emperor went to the Temple, sacrificing, and there was nothing important to attend to. We prayed forthree days in succession, but no rain came. I found that Her Majesty wastruly discouraged, and ordered each of us to pray twenty times a day. We marked a spot with vermilion powder and a little water on big yellowsheets of paper each time we prayed. 

On the sixth day of the fourth moon the sky was clouded. I ran to HerMajesty's bedroom that morning to tell her the news, but found thatsomeone had told her already. She smiled, and said to me: "You are notthe first one to give me the good news. I know everyone of you wanted tobe the first to tell me. I feel very tired today, and wish to lie downa little longer. You can go, and I will send for you when I am readyto get up. " When I went to search for the Young Empress I found all theCourt ladies there also. They all asked me if I had noticed the rain. Wecame out of the waiting room and found that the courtyard was wet, andafter a while it rained very fast. Her Majesty got up, and we prayed asusual. Fortunately the rain did not stop, but came pouring down all thatday. 

Her Majesty played solitaire with the dominoes, and I stood at the backof her chair watching her. I saw that the Young Empress and all thegirls were standing on the veranda. Her Majesty saw them, too, and saidto me: "Go and tell them to wait in the waiting room. Can't theysee that the veranda is wet?" I went to them, but before I had theopportunity of telling them anything the Young Empress told me that thewaiting room was wet, and that the water had gone in. As I said before, this building was very old, and there were no drains at all. HerMajesty's own Palace was high; it had twelve steps, while our waitingroom, which was on the left side of her Palace, was built right on theground, with no raised foundation at all. While I was talking on theveranda just for a few minutes, I got quite wet. Her Majesty knocked ather glass window and told us to go in. Now I must explain that none ofus, not even the Young Empress could enter Her Majesty's Palace withouther orders except we had work to do there, or were on duty. Her Majestywas very happy that day. She laughed and said that we looked as if wehad just been pulled out of the lake. The Young Empress had on a paleblue gown, and the red tassel on her headdress was dripping red waterall over her gown. She smiled and said to us: "Look at those girls;their gowns are all spoiled. " While we were talking, Her Majesty gave usorders for us to change our clothes. 

After they had gone, I went back to Her Majesty. She looked at me andsaid: "You are wet also, only your clothes do not show. " I had on acashmere dress which was made very plain. She touched my arm and said:"How wet you are. You had better change, and put on a thick dress. Ithink foreign clothes must be very uncomfortable; the waist is too smalland it seems to me out of proportion to the rest of the body. I amsure that you will look much prettier in our Manchu gown. I want you tochange and put your Parisian clothes away as souvenirs. I only wanted toknow how foreign ladies dressed and now I have seen enough. The DragonBoat Festival will be here next month and I will make some pretty gownsfor you. " I thanked her by kowtowing to the ground and told her thatI would be only too pleased to change into Manchu clothes, but havinglived so many years abroad, and having always worn foreign clothes, I had not had any made. We were planning to change into Manchu gownsbefore coming to the Court, but we had received orders that Lao TsuTsung wished to see us in foreign clothes. I was very glad when Ireceived that order as there were several reasons why I wanted to wearManchu gowns. First, the Court ladies at the beginning treated us asoutsiders. Secondly, I knew that Her Majesty did not like them, andbesides, we were very uncomfortable living at the Palace in Peking, andmade up our minds that we must wear Manchu clothes, which were made forit. We had so much work to do, and having to stand most of the time oneabsolutely needed loose garments. Her Majesty ordered one of the eunuchsto bring one of her dresses for me to try on, so I went back to my ownroom, and took off my wet clothes and changed. I tried on her gown, butit was too loose for me. The length was quite all right and so were thesleeves. Her Majesty told one of the eunuch writers to write down mymeasurements in order to have a gown made for me, and said she was sureit would fit me. She did the same thing for my mother and sister, andordered our gowns to be made at once. I knew she was pleased, as shetold me what color would suit me the best. She said that I should alwayswear pink and pale blue, for they suited, and were her favorite colors, too. She also talked about our headdress, and ordered some made the sameas worn by the other Court ladies. She said to me: "I know you canwear my shoes, for I tried yours on the first day you came, don't youremember? I must select a lucky day for you to become a Manchu oncemore, " she said this with a smile, "and no more foreign clothes afterthat. " She took her special book for lucky days and hours, and studiedit a little while, then she said the eighteenth of that month was thebest. Li Lien Ying, the head eunuch knew how to please Her Majesty, andsaid he would give orders to have everything ready for us at that time. Her Majesty told us the way we must have our hair dressed, and what kindof flowers we should wear, in fact she was very happy arranging to makeus into Manchus. A short while after she dismissed us for the day. Itrained for three days without stopping. The last day the Emperor cameback, and all ceremonies ceased. Her Majesty never liked to stay in theForbidden City, and I was not a bit surprised, as I hated the place. We had to use candles to dress by, in the morning, as the rooms were inabsolute darkness even in the middle of the afternoon. It rained so muchthat finally Her Majesty said she would return to the Summer Palace thenext day, whether it was raining or not, and we were all very glad togo. 

We returned to the Summer Palace on the seventh. It was a dull day, butno rain. We packed everything in just the same way we had done whenwe came, and stopped at Wan Shou Si and had our luncheon. That day wecommenced to eat meat again. I noticed that Her Majesty enjoyed her mealvery much. She asked me if I liked the food without meat, and I told herthat everything was nicely done and that I enjoyed the food very much, although without meat. She told me that she could not eat that kind offood and enjoy it, and that if it were not necessary to make sacrificeshe would not have abstained. 

The first garden party of the year was given by the Empress Dowager tothe ladies of the Diplomatic Corps, in the fourth moon. This year HerMajesty desired to deviate a little from previous custom, and issuedorders that stalls should be arranged in the garden, on a similarprincipal to a bazaar, on which were to be displayed curios, embroideredwork, flowers, etc. , etc. These were to be given as presents to theguests. The guests were: Mrs. Conger, wife of the American Minister, Mrs. Williams, wife of Chinese Secretary of the American Legation, Madame and Mademoiselle de Carcer, wife and daughter of the SpanishMinister, Madame Uchida, wife of the Japanese Minister, and a few ladiesof the Japanese Legation, Madame Almeida, wife of the PortugueseCharge d' Affaires, Madame Cannes, wife of the Secretary of the FrenchLegation, the wives of several French Officers, Lady Susan Townley, wife of the First Secretary of the British Legation, two ladies from theGerman Legation, wives of German Officers, and wives of a few CustomsOfficials. On this occasion Her Majesty selected a most beautiful gownof peacock blue, embroidered all over with phoenix. The embroidery wasraised and each phoenix had a string of pearls two inches long sewedinto its mouth. Whenever Her Majesty stirred, these strings of tinypearls moved forwards and backwards and it made a very pretty effect. Of course, she wore her jade phoenix on her hair as usual and shoesand handkerchief embroidered with the same pattern. My mother wore alavender silk gown, trimmed with silver braid, her hat was of the sameshade with plumes to match. My sister and myself wore pale blue Chinesesilk gowns with insertion and medallions of Irish crochet and trimmedwith tiny velvet bands. We wore blue hats with large pink roses. All theCourt ladies dressed in their most picturesque gowns and it was a verypretty sight to see the procession walking to the Audience Hall. 

Her Majesty was in her happiest mood that morning and said to us: "Iwonder how I would look in foreign clothes; my waist is very small, butwearing this kind of loose gown it would not show. I don't think I wouldneed to squeeze myself so tight, either, but I don't think there isanything in the world prettier than our Manchu gowns. "

First the guests were received in audience by Their Majesties. They wereaccompanied by the Doyen, Baron Czikann, Minister for Austria, and aninterpreter from each Legation. On entering the Audience Hall all theguests stood in line and the Doyen presented a short address toTheir Majesties. This was translated to Prince Ching, who, in turn, communicated it to the Emperor. The Emperor made a suitable reply inChinese which was translated by the Doyen's interpreter. Then the Doyenmounted the steps of the dais and shook hands with Their Majesties, therest of the guests being presented in turn. I was standing at the righthand of the Empress Dowager and as each guest came forward, called outtheir names, and the Legation which they represented. Her Majesty hada few words for everyone, and when she saw a new face she would ask howlong they had been in China; whether they liked it, etc. , etc. All theseconversations I interpreted for Her Majesty. As the guests finishedpaying their respects they passed along and remained standing in theHall until everybody had been presented. 

The interpreters, who did not take part in this ceremony but hadremained standing in the Hall until it was over, were then conductedby Prince Ching to another part of the Palace, where refreshments wereprovided for them. After they had gone out Their Majesties descendedfrom the dais and mixed with the guests. 

The formal ceremony now being concluded, chairs were brought in andeverybody made themselves comfortable. Tea was brought in by theeunuchs and after a few minutes' conversation, we all adjourned tothe refreshment room, with the exception of the Empress Dowager, theEmperor, the Young Empress and the Secondary wife. In the absence of HerMajesty, the Imperial Princess (The Empress Dowager's adopted daughter)officiated as hostess, Mrs. Conger sitting at her right and Madame deCarcer, wife of the Spanish Minister, on her left. The food was allChinese, but knives and forks were provided for the use of the guests. During the luncheon the Imperial Princess stood up and spoke a fewwords of welcome, which I translated into English and French. After theluncheon was over we adjourned to the garden where Their Majesties wereawaiting us. A brass band was playing European airs. 

Her Majesty led the way around the gardens, passing the various stallson the way, where the ladies would stop and admire the differentarticles, which were later presented to them as souvenirs of theoccasion. On arriving at a teahouse which had been erected in thegardens, everybody rested and partook of tea. Their Majesties thenwished everybody good-bye and the guests were then conducted to theirchairs and took their departure. 

As usual, we reported to Her Majesty everything that had taken place andhow the guests had enjoyed themselves. She said: "How is it that theseforeign ladies have such large feet? Their shoes are like boats andthe funny way they walk I cannot say I admire. I haven't yet seen oneforeigner with pretty hands. Although they have white skins, their facesare covered with white hair. Do you think they are beautiful?" I repliedthat I had seen some American beauties when I was abroad. Her Majestysaid: "No matter how beautiful they are they have ugly eyes. I can'tbear that blue color, they remind me of a cat. " After a few moreremarks, she ordered us to retire, saying that we must be tired. Wewere rather used up and glad of an opportunity to rest, so made ourcourtesies and retired. 

We had been at the Palace more than two months, and I had had noopportunity to see my father at all, who was quite ill at that time. We did not know whether we could ask leave of absence from the Court. Ireceived letters from my father every day, telling me to have courage, and to do my duty. My mother asked the Young Empress if it would becorrect to ask Her Majesty for permission to go home for a day or two. The Young Empress told us that it would be quite all right to do that, but she thought it would be better if we could wait until after theeighth, for there would be a feast on that day. The eighth day of thefourth moon every year is the ceremony of eating green peas. Accordingto the Buddhist religion there is a hereafter which divides or grades, according to the life that is lived on earth, that is to say, those wholive good lives go to Heaven when they die and those who are bad go to abad place to suffer. On this occasion Her Majesty sent to the people sheliked, each a plate containing eight peas, and we had to eat them. TheYoung Empress told me that if I presented a plate of peas to Her Majestyit would please her, which I did. This meant: "May we meet in thehereafter" (Chi Yuen Dou). Her Majesty was very happy that day. We wentto the west side of the lake and had our luncheon there. Her Majestytalked to us about the first day we came to the Court, and then said tomother: "I wonder if Yu Keng is any better. When will he be able to cometo the Court? I haven't seen him since he returned from France. " (Myfather had asked three months leave of absence from the Court on accountof his poor health. ) My mother answered and said that he was feelingbetter, but that his legs were still very weak, and he could not walkmuch. Her Majesty then said to us: "Oh, I have forgotten to tell youthat if you wish to go home, you can ask permission. I have been so busylately, and forgot to remind you. " We thanked her and told her that wewould like to go home and see how my father was, so she gave orders thatwe should leave the Court the next day. Then she asked me how long Iwould like to stay at home, and of course I knew the custom, and toldher that I was waiting for her orders: "Would two or three days beenough?" We told her that it suited us beautifully. I was so surprisedwhen she mentioned it to us, and wondered if anyone had told her of ourintentions, or if Her Majesty was a mind reader. 

When she retired that afternoon I went to see the Young Empress, whowas always very nice and kind, and asked me to sit near her. Her eunuchbrought me a cup of tea. Her rooms were furnished exactly the same asHer Majesty's, but everything looked extremely dainty, and showed verygood taste. We talked about the life at the Palace for a long time, andshe told me that she was very fond of us, and so was Her Majesty. I toldher that Her Majesty had mentioned to us about going home for two orthree days and that I was surprised to see how thoughtful she was. Shesaid that someone had reminded Her Majesty to let us go home, for we hadbeen at the Court for more than two months. I found out afterwards thatit was the head eunuch Li who had heard that we were anxious to go. TheYoung Empress said to me: "I want to teach you to be wise, that is, you are ordered to leave the Court to-morrow, but Her Majesty did notmention any particular hour. You must not talk about it to anyone, anddon't show that you are excited to go home. Don't dress as if you aregoing out to-morrow, but be natural and do your work as if you don'tcare about going at all. Don't you remind her, in case she forgets totell you to go, and come back on the second day, which is the custom. Itwill show that you are anxious to see Her Majesty, so you come backone day earlier than the appointed time. " I was so happy to get thisinformation and asked her if it would be all right to bring Her Majestysome presents when we returned to the Court. She said that was just theproper thing to do. The next day we did the same work, and went to theAudience Hall with Her Majesty, as usual. After the audience was overHer Majesty ordered her luncheon to be served at the country teahouse. This teahouse was built in country style, and right on top of her peonymountain, with bamboo and straw, and all the furniture was made ofbamboo also. They were beautifully made, and the frames of thewindows were carved into a line of characters--Shou (long life), andbutterflies, with pink silk curtain hangings. At the rear of thisexquisite little building was a bamboo shade, with railings all around, hung with red silk lanterns. The seats were built against the railings, so that one could sit on them comfortably. This was supposed to beused by the Court ladies as their waiting room. We played dice with HerMajesty when luncheon was over. We played a very long time, and I wonthe game that day. Her Majesty laughed and said to me: "You have luckto-day. I think you are so happy to go home that your fairies havehelped you to win the game. " As I mentioned before, this game was called"Eight Fairies Going across the Sea. " "I think it is time for you to gonow. " While saying this she turned and asked one of the eunuchs what thetime was, and he answered that it was half-past two. We kowtowed to HerMajesty, and stood waiting for more orders. Then she said: "I am sorryto see you go although I know you are coming back within two or threedays. I know I shall miss you. " To my mother she said: "Tell Yu Keng totake care of his health and get well soon. I have ordered four eunuchsto accompany you, and am sending some of my own rice for him. " We hadto kowtow again in thanking Her Majesty for her kindness and finally shesaid: "Nemen tzowba" (you can go now). 

We withdrew, and found the Young Empress on the veranda. We courtesiedto her, and said good-bye to the Court ladies and came to our roomsto get ready to start. Our eunuchs were very good, and had everythingpacked up ready for us. We gave ten taels to each of our eunuchs, forthat was the custom, and gave four taels to each chair bearer of thePalace. When we arrived at the Palace Gate our own chairs were waitingfor us. We said good-bye to our eunuchs. Strange to say they seemedattached to us and told us to come back soon. The four eunuchs orderedby Her Majesty to see us home were there, and as soon as we got into ourchairs I saw them riding on horseback beside us. It seemed to me justlike a dream the two months I had spent at the Court, and I must say Ifelt very sorry to leave Her Majesty, but at the same time I wanted verymuch to see my father. We got home after a two hours' ride, and foundhim looking much better, and one can imagine how happy he was to see us. The four eunuchs came into our parlor, and placed the yellow bag of riceon the table. My father thanked Her Majesty by kowtowing to the ground. We gave these eunuchs each a little present, and they departed. 

I told my father about my life at the Palace, and how very kind HerMajesty was to me. He asked me if I could influence Her Majesty toreform some day, and hoped he would live to see it. Somehow or other Ihad the idea that I could and promised him that I would try my best. 

Her Majesty sent two eunuchs to see us the next morning, and also sentus food and fruits. They told us that Her Majesty missed us, and hadtold them to ask if we missed her. We told these eunuchs that we werereturning to the Court the next day. We stayed at home only two days anda great many people came to see us, and kept us busy all the time. Myfather suggested that we should start from the house at about 3:00 A. M. , so as to get to the Summer Palace before Her Majesty was up. We leftour house at 3:00 A. M. In total darkness, just like we had two monthsbefore. What a change. I thought I was the happiest girl in the world. I was told by many people, especially by the Young Empress, that HerMajesty was extremely fond of me. I had also heard that she did not carefor young people at all. Although I was happy, I noticed that some ofthe Court ladies did not like me, and they made me uncomfortable on manyoccasions by not telling me just the way Her Majesty wanted the work tobe done. They smiled to each other whenever Her Majesty was saying tomy mother that she liked me, and that I was always careful in doinganything that pleased her. I knew I was going to see those people again. However, I made up my mind to fight my battles alone. I only wished tobe useful to Her Majesty, and would not take any notice of them. 

It was a little after five o'clock when we reached the Summer Palace. Our own eunuchs were very happy to see us again and told us that HerMajesty was not up yet and that we had time to go to our rooms, wherethey had some breakfast prepared for us. We went to see the YoungEmpress first, and found she was ready to go to Her Majesty's Palace. She was also very glad to see us, and told us that our Manchu costumeswere all ready, and that she had seen them and they were perfectlylovely. We were very hungry, and enjoyed our breakfast immensely. Afterthat we went to see Her Majesty. She was awake, so we went into herbedroom. We greeted her the same way that we did every morning, andkowtowed to her and thanked her for all the things she had sent us whilewe were at home. She sat up on the bed, smiled, and said: "Are you gladto come back? I know everyone who comes to me and stays for a whiledoes not like to go away from here any more. I am glad to see you (tomy mother). How is Yu Keng?" My mother told her that my father was muchbetter. She asked us what we did for those two days, staying at home. She also wanted to know whether we still remembered which day she hadchosen for us to change into our Manchu costume. We told her we knew thedate, and were looking forward to it. The eunuchs brought in threelarge yellow trays, full of beautiful gowns, shoes, white silk socks, handkerchiefs, bags for nuts, in fact the whole set, including the gu'undzan (Manchu headdress). We kowtowed to her, and told her we were verymuch pleased with everything she had given us. Her Majesty told theeunuchs to bring everything out for us to see. She said to us: "You seeI give you one full official dress, one set of Chao Chu (amber heads), two embroidered gowns, four ordinary gowns for everyday wear, and twogowns for Chi Chen wear (the anniversary of the death of an Emperor orEmpress), one sky blue, the other mauve, with very little trimming. I also have a lot of underwear for you. " I was excited and told HerMajesty that I would like to commence to dress up at once. She smiled, and said: "You must wait until the day comes, the lucky day I haveselected for you. You must try to fix your hair first, which is the mostdifficult thing to do. Ask the Young Empress to teach you. " Althoughshe told me to wait, I knew she was pleased to see that I showed so muchenthusiasm. She asked me the first day when we came to the Court whymy hair was so curly. I showed her that I curled it with paper, and sheteased me ever afterwards. She also said that I could not pull my hairstraight in time to wear Manchu clothes, that everyone would laugh atme, and how ugly I would look. That night one Court lady came over to mewhile I was sitting on the veranda and said: "I wonder if you will looknice in Manchu dress?" I told her I only wanted to look natural. "Youhave lived so many years abroad we consider you are a foreigner to us. "I told her that as long as Her Majesty considered I was one of her own, I would be satisfied and that she need not worry herself about me. Iknew they were jealous of us, so I went in search of the Young Empressand left this girl alone. We were talking with the Young Empress in thewaiting room, and this girl came in and sat near me, smiling to herselfmost of the time. One of the servant girls was fixing some fresh flowersfor Her Majesty. She looked at her and asked her why she was smiling. The Young Empress saw, and asked her the same question. She would notanswer, but kept on smiling all the time. At this moment a eunuch cameand said that Her Majesty wanted me. I afterwards tried to find out whatshe had told the Young Empress but could not. Several days passed veryquietly. Her Majesty was happy, and so was I. One day the Young Empressreminded us that we should make all preparations in order to be ableto dress ourselves properly on the eighteenth, as the time was gettingshort--only two days left. That night, after Her Majesty had retired, Iwent to my own room and fixed my headdress on and went to see the YoungEmpress. She said that I looked very nice, and that she was sure HerMajesty would like me better in Manchu costume. I told her that I usedto wear Manchu dress when I was a little girl, before we went to Europe, and of course I knew how to put it on. I also told her that I could notunderstand why these girls looked upon me as a foreigner. She said thatthey only showed their ignorance, and that they were jealous of me and Ishould not pay any attention to them at all. 

CHAPTER ELEVEN--OUR COSTUMES

THE next day we got up earlier than usual and dressed ourselves in ournew gowns. I could not believe my own eyes, and asked several timeswhether that was myself or not. I found that I looked all right, although I hadn't been wearing this sort of costume for so long. They seemed to think that we would look awkward. Our own eunuchs weredelighted to see us dressed that way. The Young Empress came in whilepassing our rooms on her way to the Empress Dowager's Palace, and waitedfor us to go with her. When we arrived at the waiting room a lot ofpeople came in and looked at us, and talked so much about us, that itmade me feel rather shy. Everyone told us that we looked much betterthat way than in foreign clothes, except the Emperor Kwang Hsu. Hesaid to me: "I think your Parisian gowns are far prettier than this. "I smiled and said nothing. He shook his head at me, and went into HerMajesty's bedroom. Li Lien Ying came and saw us, and was very muchexcited and told me to go and see Her Majesty at once. I told him thateveryone was looking at us, as if we were curios. He said: "You don'tknow how nice you look now, and I wish that you would not wear foreignclothes at all. " Her Majesty laughed so loud when she saw us that itmade me uncomfortable, for I was afraid we looked unnatural to her. Shesaid: "I cannot believe you are the same girls. Just look at yourselvesin this looking-glass. " She pointed to a large mirror in her room. "Seehow you have changed. I feel that you belong to me now. I must have somemore gowns made for you. " Then Li Lien Ying said that the twenty-fourthwould be the first day of the Summer. On that day everyone would beginto wear jade hairpins instead of gold, and we had none. Her Majesty saidto Li: "I am very glad you told me that. I must give them each a jadehairpin after having asked them to change into Manchu dress. " Li wentaway and came back with a box of hairpins of pure green jade. HerMajesty took a beautiful one and handed it to my mother and told herthat that pin had been worn by three Empresses. She took two very niceones, and gave one to me and one to my sister. She told us that thesetwo were a pair, and that the other Empress Dowager (the East EmpressDowager) used to wear one, and that the other was worn by herself whenshe was young. I felt ashamed that Her Majesty had given us so manypresents and I had done nothing for her in any way. However, we thankedher most sincerely, and showed our appreciation. She said: "I look uponyou as my own people, and the gowns I have made for you are the verybest. I have also decided to let you wear the full Court dress, thesame as one of the Princesses. You are my Court lady, so you are equallyranked here. " Li stood there behind her and made a sign to us to kowtowto her. I cannot remember how many times I kowtowed that day. Theheaddress was very heavy, and I was not quite used to it; I was afraidit might fall off. Her Majesty also said that she would make our rankknown to the Court on her seventieth birthday. I will explain this. Onevery decade from the time of her birth Her Majesty used to give specialfavors to anyone she liked, or to anyone who had done something for her, and had been useful to her. She could promote anyone at any time, buton these occasions it was something special. The Young Empresscongratulated us, and said that Her Majesty was looking for a youngPrince to marry me. She was also very fond of teasing. I wrote to myfather about all the favors that had been given to me. He wrote me hehoped that I deserved them all, and that I must do all I could to beuseful and loyal to Her Majesty as long as she lived. 

I was very happy. Life was perfectly lovely at the Palace. Her Majestywas always nice and kind. I noticed the difference in the way she hadtreated us since (as she said) we had become Manchus once more. One dayHer Majesty asked me while we were sailing on the lake in the moonlight, if I wanted to go to Europe any more. It was a superb night, and severalboats were sailing behind us. In one boat several eunuchs were playinga kind of sweet music on the flute and an instrument very much like themandolin, called Yeuh Chin (small harp, like the shape of the moon), with Her Majesty singing very softly to herself. I told her I wassatisfied to be with her, and did not wish to go anywhere at all. Shesaid that I must learn to sing poetry and that she would teach me everyday. I told her that my father had made me study all kinds of poetry andI had composed some myself. She looked surprised and said: "Why didn'tyou tell me that before? I love poems. You must read to me sometimes. I have many books here containing poems of different dynasties. " I toldher that my knowledge of Chinese literature was very limited, and Idared not let her see how little I knew. I had only studied eight years. Her Majesty told me that the Young Empress and herself were the onlyones who were familiar with Chinese literature at the Court. She toldme that she tried to teach the Court ladies to read and write some timeago, but having found them so lazy she gave them up. My father told meto be very careful not to show them what I could do until I was asked, so I kept it to myself. After they found this out, some of the Courtladies were very disagreeable to me, and this went on day after day. 

Except for this unpleasantness the fourth moon passed very agreeably. The first day of the fifth moon was a busy day for us all, as from thefirst to the fifth of the fifth moon was the festival of five poisonousinsects, which I will explain later--also called the Dragon BoatFestival. All the Viceroys, Governors and high officials, besidesthe Imperial Family, Court ladies and eunuchs, all offer Her Majestybeautiful presents. I never saw such a lot of things as came into thePalace during this festival. Each person who sent in presents mustaccompany them with a sheet of yellow paper, and at the right lowercorner the sender's name must be written and also the word Kuai Jin, meaning to present their gifts kneeling, also to write what the presentswere. The eunuchs took big yellow trays to bring them in. During thesefive days everyone was busy, especially the eunuchs. I could not countjust how many people sent presents to Her Majesty. The presents were ofevery kind, such as things for the household; silks and jewelry of allkinds and description. A large part of the presents were foreign goodsof the ordinary kind. I also saw lovely carved thrones and embroideries. Her Majesty ordered them to be put away, and the foreign things to bekept in her Palace, for those were new to her. 

The third day of the fifth moon was the day for just the people of thePalace to make presents. It was a most beautiful sight to see. We werebusy all night making preparations, and had to go and help the YoungEmpress. The next morning we placed our presents in the big courtyardin these big yellow trays. The Young Empress had her trays in the firstrow. The presents from the Young Empress to the Empress Dowager weremade by her own hands. There were ten pairs of shoes, silk embroideredhandkerchiefs, little bags for betel nuts, and bags for tobacco, allexquisitely done. The Secondary wife of the Emperor Kwang Hsu presentedabout the same to Her Majesty. The Court ladies' presents were alldifferent, as we could ask permission to go out shopping before theFeast. We could not go out together, for one or two of us must be thereat all times, and it was very exciting to tell each other what we hadbought. We ourselves did not ask permission to go out of the Palace, for we had our presents ready long before. Everyone seemed to be talkingabout presents, whether Her Majesty would like them or not. My mother, my sister and myself had written to Paris to get some lovely Frenchbrocades, one set of furniture, French Empire style. We had learned HerMajesty's taste already during our short stay there, so including thosepresents we also gave her fans, perfumes, soaps and some other Frenchnovelties. Her Majesty always looked over everything, and noticedsome of the presents were of very poor quality, and wanted to know thesender's name. The eunuchs and servant girls also made her good anduseful presents. Her Majesty would select the articles she liked thebest, and order the rest to be put away, and she might never see themagain. I must say that Her Majesty liked and admired some foreign thingsvery much, she especially loved the French fancy brocades, for she wasmaking new gowns almost every day. She was also pleased with soaps andpowder that would beautify the skin. She always thanked us in a verynice way and said how very thoughtful we were in selecting beautifularticles for her. Her Majesty would also say something nice to theeunuchs and girls, and that made everyone feel pleased. 

The fourth day of the fifth moon was the day that Her Majesty gavepresents to us all, the different Princes, high officials, servantgirls and eunuchs. Her memory was something extraordinary, for she couldremember every one of the presents that had been given to her the daybefore, and the names of the givers also. That was a busy day for us. Her Majesty gave people presents according to the way they gave her. Wehad yellow sheets of paper and wrote out the names of those to whomshe wished to give. That day Her Majesty was very angry with one of thewives of a certain Prince because her presents were the poorest. HerMajesty told me to keep that tray in her room and said she would go overthem and see what they were. I knew she was not pleased, for she hada telltale face. She told us to measure the silks and ribbons in thattray, and leave it in the hall. The ribbons were all of differentlengths, all too short to trim a gown, and the dress materials were notof good quality. Her Majesty said to me: "Now you look for yourself. Are these good presents? I know very well all these things were givento them by other people and they of course would select the best forthemselves, and give me what was left. They know they are obliged tosend me something. I am surprised to see how careless they are. Probablythey thought as I receive so many presents I would not notice. They aremistaken, for I notice the poorest the first, in fact I can remembereverything. I can see those who gave me things in order to please me, and those who gave because they were obliged to. I will return them thesame way. " She gave the Court ladies each a beautiful embroidered gownand a few hundred taels, the same to the Young Empress and the Secondarywife. The presents which she gave us were a little different, consistingof two embroidered gowns, several simple ones, jackets and sleevelessjackets, shoes, and flowers for the Manchu headdress. She said thatwe had not so many gowns, and instead of giving us the money, she hadthings made for us. Besides that, she gave me a pair of very prettyearrings, but none to my sister, for she noticed that I had a pair ofordinary gold earrings, while my sister had a pair set with pearls andjade. Her Majesty said to my mother: "Yu Tai Tai. I can see you love onedaughter better than the other. Roonling has such pretty earrings andpoor Derling has none. " Before my mother could answer her she had turnedto me while I was standing at the back of her chair: "I will have a nicepair made for you. You are mine now. " My mother told her that I did notlike to wear heavy earrings. Her Majesty laughed and said: "Never mind, she is mine now, and I will give her everything she needs. You havenothing to do with her. " The earrings she gave me were very heavy. HerMajesty said that if I would wear them every day I would get used tothem, and so it proved that after some time I thought nothing of it. 

Now about this Feast. It is also called the Dragon Boat Feast. The fifthof the fifth moon at noon was the most poisonous hour for the poisonousinsects, and reptiles such as frogs, lizards, snakes, hide themselves inthe mud, for that hour they are paralyzed. Some medical men searchfor them at that hour and place them in jars, and when they are dried, sometime use them as medicine. Her Majesty told me this, so that day Iwent all over everywhere and dug into the ground, but found nothing. Theusual custom was that at noon Her Majesty took a small cup filled withspirits of wine, and added a kind of yellow powder (something likesulphur). She took a small brush and dipped it into the cup and made afew spots of this yellow paint under our nostrils and ears. This was toprevent any insects from crawling on us during the coming summer. Thereason why it was also called the Dragon Boat Festival was because atthe time of the Chou Dynasty the country was divided into several parts. Each place had a ruler. The Emperor Chou had a Prime Minister named ChiYuan, who advised him to make alliance with the other six countries, but the Emperor refused, and Chi Yuan thought that the country would betaken by others in the near future. He could not influence the Emperor, so he made up his mind to commit suicide and jumped into the river, taking a large piece of stone with him. This happened on the fifth dayof the fifth moon, so the year afterwards, the Emperor got into a Dragonboat to worship his soul, and throw rice cakes, called Tzu Tsi, into theriver. On that day the people have celebrated this feast ever since. At the Palace the theatre played first this history, which was veryinteresting, and also played the insects trying to hide themselvesbefore the most poisonous hour arrived. On that day we all wore tigershoes, the front part of which was made of a tiger's head, with littletigers made of yellow silk to wear on the headdress. These tigers wereonly for the children to wear, and signified that they would be asstrong as a tiger, but Her Majesty wanted us to wear them also. Thewives of the Manchu officials came to the Court, and when they saw usthey laughed at us. We told them it was by Her Majesty's orders. 

A register recording the birthdays of all the Court ladies was kept bythe head eunuch, and a few days before my own birthday came around, thetenth day of the fifth moon, he informed me that the custom of the Courtwas to make a present to Her Majesty and said that the present shouldtake the form of fruit, cakes, etc. , so I ordered eight boxes ofdifferent kinds. 

Early in the morning I put on full Court dress, and made myself look asnice as possible and went to wish Her Majesty good morning. When she hadfinished dressing, the eunuchs brought in the presents and, kneeling, I presented them to Her Majesty, bowing to the ground nine times. Shethanked me and wished me a happy birthday. She then made me a present ofa pair of sandalwood bracelets, beautifully carved, also a few rolls ofbrocade silk. She also informed me that she had ordered some macaroniin honor of my birthday. This macaroni is called (Chang Shou Me'en) longlife macaroni. This was the custom. I again bowed and thanked her forher kindness and thoughtfulness. After bowing to the Young Empress andreceiving in return two pairs of shoes and several embroidered neckties, I returned to my room, where I found presents from all the Court ladies. 

Altogether I had a very happy birthday. 

I can never forget the fifteenth day of the fifth moon as long as Ilive, for that was a bad day for everyone. As usual we went to HerMajesty's bedroom quite early that morning. She could not get up andcomplained that her back ached so much. We rubbed her back, in turns, and finally she got up, though a little late. She was not satisfied. The Emperor came in and knelt down to wish her good morning, but shescarcely took any notice of him. I noticed that when the Emperor sawthat Her Majesty was not well, he said very little to her. The eunuchwho dressed her hair every morning was ill, and had ordered another oneto help her. Her Majesty told us to watch him very closely to see thathe did not pull her hair off. She could not bear to see even one or twohairs fall out. This eunuch was not used to trickery, for instance, incase the hair was falling off, he could not hide it like the other onedid. This poor man did not know what to do with any that came out. Hewas frightened, and Her Majesty, seeing him through the mirror, askedhim whether he had pulled her hair out. He said that he had. This madeher furious, and she told him to replace it. I almost laughed, but theeunuch was very much frightened and started to cry. Her Majesty orderedhim to leave the room, and said she would punish him later. We helpedher to fix up her hair. I must say it was not an easy job, for she hadvery long hair and it was difficult to comb. 

She went to the morning audience, as usual, and after that she told thehead eunuch what had happened. This Li was indeed a bad and cruel man, and said: "Why not beat him to death?" Immediately she ordered Lito take this man to his own quarters to receive punishment. Then HerMajesty said the food was bad, and ordered the cooks to be punishedalso. They told me that whenever Her Majesty was angry everything wentwrong, so I was not surprised that so many things happened that day. HerMajesty said that we all looked too vain with our hair too low downat the back of the head. (This Manchu headdress is placed right in thecenter of one's head and the back part is called the swallow's tail, andmust reach the bottom part of one's collar. ) We had our hair done up thesame way every day, and she had previously never said a word about it. She looked at us, and said: "Now I am going to the audience, and don'tneed you all here. Go back to your rooms and fix your hair all overagain. If I ever see you all like that again I am going to cut your hairoff. " I was never more surprised in my life when I heard her speakso sharply to us. I don't know whether I was spoken to or not, but Ithought it well to be wise, and I answered I would. We were all ready togo and Her Majesty stood there watching us. When we were about five orsix feet away we heard her scolding Chun Shou (the girl who was neithera Court lady nor a servant). Her Majesty said she was pretending she wasall right, and Her Majesty ordered her to go also. When we were walkingtowards our own place, some of them laughed at Chun Shou, which madeher angry. When Her Majesty was angry with anyone, she would say that wewere all doing something on purpose to make her angry. I must say thateveryone of us was scared, and wondered who would have dared to do that. On the contrary, we tried our best to please her in every way. 

But that day she was furious all day and I tried to stay away from her. I noticed some of the eunuchs went to her to ask questions concerningimportant matters, but she would not look at them, but kept on readingher book. To tell the truth, I felt miserable that day. At the beginningI thought all the eunuchs were faithful servants, but seeing them everyday, I got to know them. It did not do them any harm to be punished oncein a while. 

The Young Empress told me to go in and wait on Her Majesty as usual. Shesaid that probably if I would suggest playing dice with her, she mightforget her troubles. At first I did not want to go, for I was afraidthat she might say something to me, but seeing that the poor YoungEmpress spoke to me so nicely, I told her I would try. When I enteredHer Majesty's sitting room I found her reading a book. She looked at meand said: "Come over here, I would like to tell you something. You knowthese people at the Palace are no good and I don't like them at all. I don't want them to poison your ears by telling you how wicked I am. Don't talk to them. You must not fix your hair too low down at the backof your head. I was not angry with you this morning. I know you aredifferent. Don't let them influence you. I want you to be on my side, and do as I tell you. " Her Majesty spoke very kindly to me, and her facechanged also--not at all the same face she had that morning. Of course Ipromised her that I would be only too happy to do all I could to pleaseher. She spoke to me just like a good mother would speak to a dearchild. I changed my opinion and thought that perhaps after all she wasright, but I had often heard from the officials that one cannot begood to a eunuch, as he would do all he could to injure you without anyreason whatsoever. 

I noticed that day they all seemed to be more careful in doing theirwork. I was told that when once Her Majesty got angry, she would neverfinish. On the contrary, she talked to me very nicely, just as if therehad been no troubles at all. She was not difficult to wait upon, onlyone had to watch her moods. I thought how fascinating she was, and I hadalready forgotten that she had been angry. She seemed to have guessedwhat I was thinking, and said: "I can make people hate me worse thanpoison, and can also make them love me. I have that power. " I thoughtshe was right there. 

CHAPTER TWELVE--THE EMPRESS AND MRS. CONGER

ON the twenty-sixth day of the fifth moon, during the morning audience, Prince Ching told Her Majesty that Mrs. Conger, the wife of the AmericanMinister to Peking, had asked for a private audience, and would HerMajesty please mention a day. She told him not to give any answer untilthe next day, just to give her time to think it over. I was sittingbehind the large screen, listening, but the other Court ladies madetoo much noise, so Her Majesty ordered them not to say a word duringaudience. I was very glad myself, because I could listen to some of theinteresting conversations between the Empress Dowager and her Ministers. After the audience, Her Majesty ordered her lunch to be served on thetop of the hill at Pai Yuen Dien (Spreading Cloud Pavilion). She saidthat she preferred to walk, so we followed her very slowly. To get tothis place we had to mount two hundred and seventy-two steps, besidesten minutes' climbing over rough stones. She did not seem to mindthe climbing part at all. It was the funniest thing to see two littleeunuchs on either side, to support her arms, trying to keep pace withher. I noticed that she was very much preoccupied, and did not speakto any of us. When we arrived at our destination we were very tired andquite exhausted. Her Majesty, who was a good walker herself, laughed atus. She was always very much pleased when she excelled in games of skillor endurance. She said: "You see I am old, and can walk much faster thanyou young people. You are all no use. What is the matter with you?" HerMajesty was very fond of receiving compliments. I had been there longenough to know and had learned to say things which would please her. Shealso hated anyone to pay her compliments at the wrong moment, so one hadto be very careful even in paying her compliments. 

This "spreading cloud" pavilion was a beautiful Palace. It had an openspace in front of the building, just like one of the courtyards, withpink and white oleanders all over the place. There was a porcelain tableand several porcelain stools. Her Majesty sat on her own yellow satinstool and was drinking her tea in silence. It was very windy that day, although the sky was blue with warm sunshine. Her Majesty sat therejust for a few minutes, and then said it was too windy and went into thebuilding. I was more than glad to go in, too, and whispered to the YoungEmpress that I thought the wind might blow off my headdress. The eunuchsbrought the luncheon and placed everything upon the table. The YoungEmpress made a sign for us to follow her, which we did. When we came tothe back veranda we sat down on the window seats. I will explain aboutthese seats. All the windows were built low at the Palace, and on theveranda there was something like a bench built along the window, abouta foot wide. There were no chairs to be seen excepting Her Majesty'sthrones. The Young Empress asked me whether I had noticed that HerMajesty had something on her mind. I told her that perhaps she wasthinking about the private audience which Prince Ching had mentionedthat morning. She said that I had guessed right, and asked: "Do you knowanything about this audience? When will it take place?" I said that HerMajesty had not yet given her answer. 

By this time Her Majesty had finished eating and was walking up and downthe room, watching us eating. She came over to my mother and said: "I amjust wondering why Mrs. Conger asks for a private audience. Perhaps shehas something to say to me. I would like to know just what it is so Ican prepare an answer. " My mother said that probably Mrs. Conger hadsomeone visiting her who wished to be presented to Her Majesty. "No, it can't be that, because they must give the list of names of those whowish to come to the Palace. I don't mind the formal audiences, but Idon't think that I should have private ones at all. I don't like to bequestioned, as you all know. The foreigners are, of course, very niceand polite, according to their own way, but they cannot compare with us, so far as etiquette is concerned. I may be conservative in saying that Iadmire our custom and will not change it as long as I live. You see ourpeople are taught to be polite from their earliest childhood, and justlook back at the oldest teachings and compare them with the new. Peopleseem to like the latter the best. I mean that the new idea is to beChristians, to chop up their Ancestral Tablets and burn them. I knowmany families here who have broken up because of the missionaries, whoare always influencing the young people to believe their religion. NowI tell you why I feel uneasy about this audience is because we are toopolite to refuse anyone who asks any favors in person. The foreignersdon't seem to understand that. I'll tell you what I will do. Wheneverthey ask me anything, I'll simply tell them that I am not my own boss, but have to consult with my Ministers; that although I am the EmpressDowager of China, I must also obey the law. To tell the truth, I likeMadame Uchida (wife of the Japanese Minister to Peking) very much. Sheis always very nice and doesn't ask any silly questions. Of course theJapanese are very much like ourselves, not at all forward. Last year, before you came to the Court, a missionary lady came with Mrs. Conger, and suggested that I should establish a school for girls at the Palace. I did not like to offend her, and said that I would take it intoconsideration. Now, just imagine it for a moment. Wouldn't it be foolishto have a school at the Palace; besides, where am I going to get somany girls to study? I have enough to do as it is. I don't want all thechildren of the Imperial family studying at my Palace. "

Her Majesty laughed while she was telling us this, and everyone elselaughed, too. She said: "I am sure you will laugh. Mrs. Conger is avery nice lady. America is always very friendly towards China, and Iappreciate their nice behavior at the Palace during the twenty-sixthyear of Kwang Hsu (1900), but I cannot say that I love the missionaries, too. Li Lien Ying told me that these missionaries here give the Chinesea certain medicine, and that after that they wish to become Christians, and then they would pretend to tell the Chinese to think it over verycarefully, for they would never force anyone to believe their religionagainst their own will. Missionaries also take the poor Chinese childrenand gouge their eyes out, and use them as a kind of medicine. " I toldher that that was not true; that I had met a great many missionaries, and that they were very kind-hearted and willing to do anything tohelp the poor Chinese. I also told her what they had done for the poororphans--given them a home, food and clothing; that sometimes they wentinto the interior and found the blind children who might be useless totheir parents, and when they get them they have to support them. Iknow several cases like that. These country people offer their deformedchildren to the missionaries, as they are too poor to feed and take careof them. I told her about their schools, and how they helped the poorpeople. Her Majesty then laughed, and said: "Of course I believe whatyou say, but why don't these missionaries stay in their own country andbe useful to their own people?" I thought it would be of no use for meto talk too much, but at the same time I would like her to know of thedreadful times some of the missionaries had in China. Some time ago, two of them were murdered at Wu Shuih, in June, 1892 (a little belowHankow), the church being burnt down by the mob. My father was appointedby Viceroy Chang Chih Tung to investigate the matter. After much troublehe caught three of the murderers and, according to the Chinese law, theywere put to death by hanging in wooden cages, and the Government paid anindemnity to the families of the murdered missionaries. The year after, 1893, a Catholic church was burnt down at Mar Cheng, on the Yangtse, near Ichang. The mob said they saw many blind children at the church, who were made to work after having their eyes gouged out. The Prefect ofIchang Province said it was true that missionaries did get the Chinesechildrens' eyes for making medicine, so my father suggested having thoseblind children brought into the Yamen and ask them. The Prefect wasa most wicked man, and was very anti-foreign also. He gave the poorchildren plenty of food, and taught them to say that the missionariesdid gouge their eyes out, but when they were brought in the next daythey said that the missionaries treated them very kindly and gave them anice home, good food and clothing. They said they were blind long beforethey became Catholics, and also said that the Prefect had taught themto say that the missionaries were cruel to them, which was not true. Theblind children begged to go back to the school and said that they werevery happy there. 

Her Majesty said: "That may be all right for them to help the poor andrelieve their suffering. For instance, like our great Buddha Ju Lai, whofed the hungry birds with his own flesh. I would love them if they wouldleave my people alone. Let us believe our own religion. Do you know howthe Boxer rising began? Why, the Chinese Christians were to blame. TheBoxers were treated badly by them, and wanted revenge. Of course that isalways the trouble with the low class of people. They went too far, and at the same time thought to make themselves rich by setting fire toevery house in Peking. It made no difference whose house. They wanted toburn so long as they could get money. These Chinese Christians are theworst people in China. They rob the poor country people of their landand property, and the missionaries, of course, always protect them, inorder to get a share themselves. Whenever a Chinese Christian is takento the Magistrate's Yamen, he is not supposed to kneel down on theground and obey the Chinese law, as others do, and is always very rudeto his own Government Officials. Then these missionaries do the bestthey can to protect him, whether he is wrong or not, and believeeverything he says and make the magistrate set the prisoner free. Do youremember that your father established rules in the twenty-fourth year ofKwang Hsu, how the Chinese officials should treat the Bishops wheneverthey had dealings with each other? I know the common class of peoplebecome Christians--also those who are in trouble--but I don't believethat any of the high officials are Christians. " Her Majesty lookedaround and whispered: "Kang Yue Wai (the reformer in 1898) tried to makethe Emperor believe that religion. No one shall believe as long asI live. I must say that I admire the foreigners in some ways. Forinstance, their navies and armies, and engineers, but as regardscivilization I should say that China is the first country by all means. I know that many people believe that the Government had connections withthe Boxers, but that is not true. As soon as we found out the trouble weissued several Edicts, and ordered the soldiers to drive them out, butthey had gone too far already. I made up my mind not to go out of thePalace at all. I am an old woman, and did not care whether I died ornot, but Prince Tuang and Duke Lan suggested that we should go at once. They also suggested that we should go in disguise, which made me veryangry, and I refused. After the return of the Court to Peking, I wastold that many people believed that I did go in disguise, and said thatI was dressed in one of my servant's clothes, and rode in a broken cartdrawn by a mule, and that this old woman servant of mine was dressed asthe Empress Dowager, and rode in my sedan chair. I wonder who made thatstory up? Of course everyone believed it, and such a story would get tothe foreigners in Peking without any trouble. 

"Now to come back to the question of the Boxer Rising. How badly I wastreated by my own servants. No one seemed anxious to go with me, and agreat many ran away before the Court had any idea of leaving the Capitalat all, and those who stayed would not work, but stood around and waitedto see what was going to happen. I made up my mind to ask and see howmany would be willing to go, so I said to everyone: 'If you servants arewilling to go with me, you can do so, and those who are not willing, canleave me. ' I was very much surprised to find that there were veryfew standing around listening. Only seventeen eunuchs, two old womenservants and one servant girl, that was Sho Chu. Those people said theywould go with me, no matter what happened. I had 3, 000 eunuchs, but theywere nearly all gone before I had the chance of counting them. Some ofthe wicked ones were even rude to me, and threw my valuable vases on thestone floor, and smashed them. They knew that I could not punish them atthat important moment, for we were leaving. I cried very much and prayedfor our Great Ancestors' Souls to protect us. Everyone knelt with me andprayed. The Young Empress was the only one of my family who went withme. A certain relative of mine, whom I was very fond of, and gave hereverything she asked, refused to go with me. I knew that the reason shewould not go was because she thought the foreign soldiers would catch upthe runaway Court, and kill everyone. 

"After we had been gone about seven days, I sent one eunuch back, tofind out who was still in Peking. She asked this eunuch whether therewere any foreign soldiers chasing us, and whether I was killed. Soonafter the Japanese soldiers took her Palace, and drove her out. Shethought she was going to die anyway, and as I was not yet assassinated, she might catch up with the Court, and go with us. I could notunderstand how she traveled so fast. One evening we were staying at alittle country house, when she came in with her husband, a nice man. Shewas telling me how much she had missed me, and how very anxious shehad been all that time to know whether I was safe or not, and cried. Irefused to listen to what she was saying and told her plainly that I didnot believe a word. From that time she was finished for me. I had a veryhard time, traveling in a sedan chair, from early morning, before thesun rose, until dark and in the evening had to stop at some countryplace. I am sure you would pity me, old as I am, that I should have hadto suffer in that way. 

"The Emperor went all the way in a cart, drawn by a mule, also theEmpress. I went along, and was praying to our Great Ancestors forprotection, but the Emperor was very quiet, and never opened his mouth. One day something happened. It rained so much and some of the chaircarriers ran away. Some of the mules died suddenly. It was very hot, and the rain was pouring down on our heads. Five small eunuchs ran awayalso, because we were obliged to punish them the night before on accountof their bad behavior to the Magistrate, who did all he could to makeme comfortable, but of course food was scarce. I heard these eunuchsquarreling with the Magistrate, who bowed to the ground, begging themto keep quiet, and promised them everything. I was of course very angry. Traveling under such circumstances one ought to be satisfied that onewas provided for. 

"It took us more than a month before we reached Shi An. I cannot tellyou how fatigued I was, and was of course worrying very much, which mademe quite ill for almost three months. So long as I live I cannot forgetit. 

"We returned to Peking early in the twenty-eighth year of Kwang Hsu andI had another dreadful feeling when I saw my own Palace again. Oh! itwas quite changed; a great many valuable ornaments broken or stolen. Allthe valuable things at the Sea Palace had been taken away, and someonehad broken the fingers of my white jade Buddha, to whom I used toworship every day. Several foreigners sat on my throne and had theirphotos taken. When I was at the Shi An I was just like being sentinto exile, although the Viceroy's Yamen was prepared for us, but thebuilding was very old, damp and unhealthy. The Emperor became ill. Itwould take a long time to tell you everything; I thought I had enoughtrouble, but this last was the worst. When I have time, I will tell youmore about it. I want you to know the absolute truth. 

"Now let us come back to the question of Mrs. Conger's private audience. There must be something special, but I hope that she will not ask foranything, for I hate to refuse her. Can you guess what it is?" I toldHer Majesty that there could not be anything special; besides, Mrs. Conger considered herself to be a person who knew Chinese etiquettevery well, and I didn't believe she would ask for anything at all. HerMajesty said: "The only objection I have is that Mrs. Conger alwaysbrings one of the missionaries as her interpreter, when I have yourmother, your sister and yourself, which I think should be sufficient. Idon't think it is right for her to do that; besides, I cannot understandtheir Chinese very well. I like to see the ladies of the Diplomaticbody sometimes, but not the missionaries. I will stop that when theopportunity comes. "

The next morning Prince Ching told Her Majesty that the AmericanAdmiral, and Mrs. Evans, and suite wished to be presented to her. TheAmerican Minister asked two private audiences. He said he had madea mistake by telling her that Mrs. Conger had asked an audience forherself, the day before. 

After the regular morning audience was over Her Majesty laughed andsaid: "Didn't I tell you yesterday that there must be a reason forasking an audience? I rather would like to meet the American Admiraland his wife. " Turning to us she said: "Be sure and fix everything uppretty, change everything in my bedroom, so as not to show them ourdaily life. " We all said "Jur" (yes), but we knew it was going to be ahard task to turn the Palace upside down. 

It was just the night before the appointed audience. We started to worktaking off the pink silk curtains from every window, and changing themfor sky blue (the color she hated); then we changed the cushions on thechairs to the same color. While we were watching the eunuchs doing thework, several of them came into the room, carrying a large tray full ofclocks. By this time her Majesty had come into the room, and ordered usto remove all her white and green jade Buddhas and take some of the jadeornaments away, for those things were sacred, and no foreigners shouldsee them, so we replaced them with these clocks, instead. We also tookaway the three embroidered door curtains, and changed them for ordinaryblue satin ones. I must explain that these three curtains were sacred, too. They were embroidered to represent five hundred Buddhist deities, on old gold satin, and had been used by Emperor Tou Kwang. Her Majestybelieved that by hanging these curtains at her door they would guardagainst evil spirits entering her room. The order was that one of usshould remember to place them back again when the audience was over. Wefixed every piece of furniture in her bedroom. Her toilet table was themost important thing. She would not let anyone see it-not even the wivesof the Officials who came in, so of course we had to put it in a safeplace, and lock it up. We changed her bed from pink color into blue. All her furniture was made of sandalwood, also carvings on her bed. Thissandalwood, before it was made into furniture, was placed in differenttemples, to be sanctified, so of course no foreigner could see it. Aswe could not take this carving from her bed, we covered it up withembroidered hangings. While we were working Her Majesty came in and toldus not to hurry in her bedroom, because the audience the next day wouldonly be for Admiral Robley Evans and his staff, and they would not visitthe private rooms. The audience for Mrs. Evans and the other ladieswould be the day after. She said it was important to see that theAudience Hall was fixed up properly. She said: "Place the only carpetwe have here in the hall. I don't like carpets anyway, but it cannot behelped. "

After we had finished, Her Majesty started to tell us what to wear forthe ladies' audience. She said to me: "You need not come to the throneto-morrow, there will only be gentlemen. I will get one of the Ministersfrom Wai-Wu-Pu (Bureau of Foreign Affairs). I don't want you to talk toso many strange men. It is not the Manchu custom. These people are allstrangers. They might go back to America and tell everybody what youlook like. " At the same time Her Majesty gave orders for the ImperialYellow Gown to be brought in next day, for the gentleman's audience. Shesaid that she must dress in her official robe for this occasion. Thisrobe was made of yellow satin, embroidered with gold dragons. She wore anecklace composed of one hundred and eight pearls, which formed part ofthis official dress. She said: "I don't like to wear this official robe. It is not pretty, but I am afraid I will have to. " She said to all ofus: "You need not dress especially. "

The next morning Her Majesty got up early, and was busier than ever. It seemed to me that whenever we had an audience we always had so muchtrouble. Something was sure to go wrong and make Her Majesty angry. Shesaid: "I want to look nice, and be amiable, but these people always makeme angry. I know the American Admiral will go home and tell his peopleabout me, and I don't want him to have a wrong impression. " It took heralmost two hours to dress her hair, and by that time it was too latefor her usual morning audience, so she proposed holding that after theforeigners had gone away. She looked at herself in the looking-glass, with her Imperial robe on, and told me that she did not like it, andasked me whether I thought the foreigners would know that it was anofficial robe. "I look too ugly in yellow. It makes my face look thesame color as my robe, " she said. I suggested that as it was only aprivate audience, if she wished to dress differently, it would notmatter at all. She seemed delighted, and I was afraid lest I had notmade a proper suggestion, but anyway I was too busy to worry. HerMajesty ordered that her different gowns should be brought in, andafter looking them over she selected one embroidered all over with thecharacter "Shou" (long life), covered with precious stones and pearls, on pale green satin. She tried it on, and said that it was becoming toher, so she ordered me to go to the jewel-room and get flowers to matchfor her hair. On one side of the headdress was the character (shou)and on the other side was a bat (the bat in China is considered to belucky). Of course her shoes, handkerchiefs and everything else wereembroidered in the same way. After she was dressed, she smiled and said:"I look all right now. We had better go to the audience hall and waitfor them, and at the same time we can play a game of dice. " Then to usall she said: "All of you will stay at the back of the screen duringthe audience. You can see all right, but I don't wish that you shouldbe seen. " The eunuchs had laid the map down on the table and were justgoing to commence playing dice, when one of the high rank eunuchs cameinto the Hall and, kneeling down, said that the American Admiral hadarrived at the Palace Gate, together with the American Minister--ten ortwelve people altogether. Her Majesty smiled and said to me: "I thoughtit was just going to be the American Minister and the Admiral, and oneor two of his staff. Who can the rest of the people be? However, nevermind, I will receive them anyway. " We helped her to mount her throneupon the dais, fixed her clothes, and handed her the paper containingthe speech she was to give. Then we went back of the screen, with theYoung Empress. It was so very quiet, not a sound anywhere, that we couldhear the boots of the visitors as they walked over the stones in thecourtyard. We were peeping from behind the screen, and could see severalof the Princes mounting the steps, conducting these people to the Hall. The Admiral and the American Minister came in, and stood in a line. Theybowed three times to the Empress Dowager. The Emperor was also on histhrone, sitting at her left hand. His throne was very small, justlike an ordinary chair. Her Majesty's speech was simply to welcome theAdmiral to China. They then came up to the dais and shook hands withtheir Majesties, ascending on one side, and retiring down the other. Prince Ching took them into another Palace building, where they hadlunch, and the audience was over. It was very simple and formal. 

After the audience was over Her Majesty said that she could hear uslaughing behind the screen, and that maybe the people would talk aboutit, and did not like it at all. I told her that it was not myself wholaughed. She said: "The next time when I have men in audience you neednot come into the Audience Hall at all. Of course it is different when Ihave my own people at the morning audiences. "

Her Majesty did not go to her bedroom that afternoon. She said shewanted to wait until these people had gone and hear what they had tosay. After a couple of hours Prince Ching came in and reported that theyhad lunched, and that they were very pleased to have seen Her Majesty, and had gone away. I must here explain that the Admiral had entered bythe left gate of the Palace. The middle gate was only used for TheirMajesties, with one exception, viz. : in the case of anyone presentingcredentials. Then they entered by the center gate. The Admiral left bythe same gate he had entered. Her Majesty asked Prince Ching whetherhe had showed them around the Palace buildings or not (this was inthe Summer Palace), and what they had thought about it. Did they sayanything, and were they pleased or not. She said to Prince Ching: "Youcan go now, and make the necessary preparations for the ladies' audiencenext day. " That same evening Her Majesty said to us: "You must all dressalike to-morrow, and wear your prettiest clothes. These foreign ladieswho are coming to the Palace may never see us again, and if we don'tshow them what we have now, we will not have another opportunity. " Sheordered us all, including the Young Empress, to wear pale blue, also theSecondary wife of the Emperor. She said to me: "If the ladies ask whothe Secondary wife is, you can tell them; but if they don't ask, I don'twant you to introduce her to them at all. I have to be very careful. These people at the Palace here are not used to seeing so many peopleand they might not have nice manners, and the foreigners will laugh atthem. " Then she said to us again: "I always give presents when ladiescome to the Court, but don't know whether I will give this time or not, for at the last audience I did not give anything at all. " Addressing me, she said: "You can prepare some pieces of jade, in case I need them. Putthem in a nice box and have them all ready. Don't bring them to me untilI ask for them. " She said: "We have talked enough now, and you can allgo to rest. " We courtesied good night. I was only too glad to go to myown room. 

The next morning everything went on very nicely and there was no troubleat all. Her Majesty was well satisfied, for we had all taken great carein fixing ourselves up. She said to me: "You never put enough paint onyour face. People might take you for a widow. You will have to paintyour lips, as that is the custom. I don't need you yet, so go back andput some more paint on. " So I went back to my room and painted myselfjust like the rest of them, but I could not help laughing at seeingmyself so changed. By the time I got to her room again, she said: "Nowyou look all right. If you think that powder is expensive, I will buysome for you. " She said that with a laugh, for she always liked to teaseme. 

By the time Her Majesty had finished her toilet, one of the ladiesbrought a number of gowns for her to select one from. She said she wouldwear pale blue that day. She looked over twenty or thirty gowns, butfound nothing which suited her, so she gave orders for some more to bebrought in. Finally she chose a blue gown embroidered with one hundredbutterflies, and wore a purple sleeveless jacket, which was alsoembroidered with butterflies. At the bottom of this gown were pearltassels. She wore her largest pearls, one of which was almost as largeas an egg, and was her favorite jewel. She only wore this on specialoccasions. She wore two jade butterflies on each side of her headdress. Her bracelets and rings were also all designed in butterflies, in facteverything matched. Among her beautiful jewels, she always wore somekind of fresh flowers. White jessamine was her favorite flower. TheYoung Empress and the Court ladies were not allowed to wear freshflowers at all unless given to them by Her Majesty as a special favor. We could wear pearls and jade, etc. , but she said that the fresh flowerswere for her, her idea being that we were too young, and might spoilfresh flowers if we wore them. After she was dressed we went into theAudience Hall. She ordered her cards to be brought in as she wanted toplay solitaire. She talked all the time she was playing, and said thatwe must all be very nice and polite to the American ladies, andshow them everywhere. She said: "It doesn't matter now, for we haveeverything changed. " She said: "I want to laugh myself. What is the useof changing everything? They will imagine we are always like this. Byand bye, if they question you about anything, just tell them that itis not so, and that we change everything at each audience, just to givethem a bit of surprise. You must tell it some day, otherwise no one willknow it at all, and the trouble would not be worth the while. " It was aprivate audience for ladies, and Her Majesty did not use the big throne, but was sitting on her little throne at the left side of the AudienceHall, where she received her own Ministers every morning; the Emperorwas standing. A eunuch came in, the same as the day before, andannounced that the ladies had arrived at the Palace Gate, nine in all. Her Majesty sent some of the Court ladies to meet them in the courtyard, and bring them to the Audience Hall, which they did. I was standing atthe right side of Her Majesty's chair, and could see them mountingthe steps. Her Majesty whispered to me, and asked: "Which one is Mrs. Evans?" As I had never seen the lady, I answered that I could nottell, but when they got nearer I saw a lady walking with the AmericanMinister's wife, and concluded that she must be Mrs. Evans, and told HerMajesty. As they got nearer, Her Majesty said: "Again that missionarylady with Mrs. Conger. I think she must like to see me. She comes everytime. I will tell her I am very glad to see her always, and see if sheunderstands what I mean. "

Mrs. Conger shook hands with Her Majesty and presented Mrs. Evans andalso the wives of the American officers. I was watching Her Majesty andsaw that she was very nice and amiable, with such a pleasant smile--sodifferent from her everyday manner. She told them she was delighted tosee them. Her Majesty ordered the eunuchs to have chairs brought infor the ladies, and at the same time other eunuchs brought in tea. HerMajesty asked Mrs. Evans whether she liked China; what she thought ofPeking; how long she had been there; how long she was going to stay, andwhere she was staying. I was so accustomed to Her Majesty's questionsthat I knew exactly what she would ask. Mrs. Conger told her interpreterto tell Her Majesty that she had not seen her for such a long time, andenquired about Her Majesty's health. Her Majesty said to me: "You tellMrs. Conger that I am in good health and that I am delighted to see her. It is a pity that I cannot hold an audience more frequently, otherwiseI could see more of her. " She continued: "The Imperial Princess (heradopted daughter-daughter of Prince Kung) will accompany them to lunch. "This ended the audience. 

Lunch was served at the back of her own Palace building (Yang YuenHsuen--the place where the clouds gather to rest). This room wasspecially furnished as a banqueting room where refreshments could beserved. All the Court ladies went to the lunch, except Her Majesty, theYoung Empress and the Secondary wife. It had taken me two hours to fixthe table for the luncheon. Her Majesty ordered that a white foreigntablecloth should be used, as it looked cleaner. The eunuch gardenershad decorated the table with fresh flowers, and Her Majesty gaveinstructions as to how the seats were to be placed. She said: "Mrs. Evans is the guest of honor. Although Mrs. Conger is the wife of theAmerican Minister, she is more of a resident, so Mrs. Evans must havethe principal seat. " She also told me to arrange to seat everybodyaccording to their respective ranks. The Imperial Princess and PrincessShun (Her Majesty's niece, sister of the Young Empress) were hostesses, and were to sit opposite each other. We placed golden menu holders andlittle gold plates for almonds and watermelon seeds; the rest all silverware, including chopsticks. Her Majesty ordered that foreign knives andforks should be provided also. The food was served in Manchu style, andwas composed of twenty-four courses, besides sweetmeats--candies andfruits. Her Majesty instructed us that only the best champagne was to beserved. She said: "I know that foreign ladies love to drink. "

I think I was the only one who was really happy to meet these ladies, more so than the rest of the Court ladies, the reason being that HerMajesty lectured them too severely, telling them how to behave, so thatthey had grown to hate the very mention of a foreign audience. While wewere eating, a eunuch came in and told me that Her Majesty was waitingat her private Palace, and that I should bring these ladies there afterthe lunch was over. So when we had finished we entered her own Palaceand found her waiting there for us. She got up and told me to ask Mrs. Evans whether she had had anything to eat--that the food was not verygood. (This is a custom with the Chinese when entertaining, always tounderrate the food. ) She said that she would like to show Mrs. Evansher private apartments, so that she could form some idea of the way welived, so she took Mrs. Evans to one of her bedrooms. She invited Mrs. Evans and Mrs. Conger to sit down, and the eunuchs brought in tea, asusual. Her Majesty asked Mrs. Evans to stay a little while in Peking, and to visit the different temples. She said: "Our country, althoughvery old, has not such fine buildings as there are in America. Isuppose you will find everything very strange. I am rather too old now, otherwise I would like to travel around the world. I have read muchabout different countries, but of course there is nothing like visitingthe different places and seeing them yourself. However, one cannot tell. I may be able to go after all, by and bye, but I am afraid to leavemy own country. By the time I returned I should not know the place anymore, I'm afraid. Here everything seems to depend on me. Our Emperor isquite young. "

She then turned and ordered us to take these ladies to visit thedifferent buildings of the Palace, also the famous temple of the Kingof Dragons. This is on a little island in the center of the lake ofthe Summer Palace. Mrs. Conger said that she had something to ask HerMajesty, and told the Missionary lady to proceed. While Mrs. Conger wasspeaking to this lady Her Majesty became rather impatient as she wantedto know what they were talking about, so she asked me. It was very hardfor me to listen to both of the ladies and to Her Majesty at the sametime. The only words I heard were: "The portrait, " so I guessed therest. Before I had a chance to tell Her Majesty this Missionary ladysaid: "Mrs. Conger has come with the special object of asking permissionto have Her Majesty's portrait painted by an American lady artist, MissCarl, as she is desirous of sending it to the St. Louis Exhibition, inorder that the American people may form some idea of what a beautifullady the Empress Dowager of China is. " Miss Carl is the sister of Mr. F. Carl who was for so many years Commissioner of Customs in Chefoo. 

Her Majesty looked surprised, for she had been listening very carefullywhilst this lady was talking. She did not like to say that she didnot quite understand, so she turned to me, as had been previouslyarranged, --a sign for me to interpret. I did not, however, do soimmediately, so Mrs. Conger told her missionary friend to repeat therequest in case Her Majesty had not quite understood it. Her Majestythen said to me: "I cannot quite understand what this lady says. I thinkperhaps you can tell me better. " So I explained everything, but I knewthat Her Majesty did not know what a portrait was like, as, up to thattime she had never even had a photograph taken of herself. 

I must here explain that in China a portrait is only painted afterdeath, in memorium of the deceased, in order that the followinggenerations may worship the deceased. I noticed that Her Majesty wassomewhat shocked when the request was made known to her. I did not wantHer Majesty to appear ignorant before these foreign ladies, so I pulledher sleeve and told her that I would explain everything to her later. She replied: "Explain a little to me now. " This was spoken in theCourt language, which the visitors were unable to understand, it beingsomewhat different from the ordinary Chinese language. This enabledHer Majesty to form some idea of the conversation, so she thanked Mrs. Conger for her kind thought, and promised to give her answer later. Shesaid to me: "Tell Mrs. Conger that I cannot decide anything alone, asshe is probably aware that I have to consult with my Ministers beforedeciding anything of an important character. Tell her that I have tobe very careful not to do anything which would give my people anopportunity to criticize my actions. I have to adhere to the rulesand customs of my ancestors. " I noticed that Her Majesty did not seeminclined to discuss the subject further at the moment. 

Just then the head eunuch came in and, kneeling down, informed HerMajesty that the boats for the ladies were ready to take them across thelake, to see the temple. This action on the part of the eunuch was owingto his having received a signal from one of the Court ladies, whichimplied that Her Majesty was getting tired of the conversation, andwished to change the subject. I must explain that on every occasion whena foreign audience was taking place, one of the Court ladies wasalways told off to watch Her Majesty, and whenever she appeared to bedispleased or tired of any particular subject under discussion, she, theCourt lady, would give the signal to the head eunuch, who would break inupon the conversation in the above manner, and thus save the situationfrom becoming embarrassing. So Her Majesty said good-bye to the ladies, as she thought it would be too late for them to have to return to saygood-bye, besides which it would give them more time to see the varioussights. 

The ladies then proceeded to the island in the Empress Dowager'spleasure boat known as the Imperial barge, previously described, andvisited the temple. This temple is built on top of a small rock, in thecenter of which is a natural cave, and it was generally supposed thatno human being had ever been inside of this cave. The Empress Dowagerbelieved the popular superstition that this hole was the home of theKing of Dragons--from which the temple derives its name. 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN--THE EMPRESS'S PORTRAIT

AFTER staying a little while at the temple, we returned to the Palace, and the ladies said goodbye and took chairs to the Palace gate, wheretheir own chairs were waiting for them. I then went to report to HerMajesty in the usual way what had been said by the visitors; whetherthey had expressed themselves as being pleased with the reception theyhad received. Her Majesty said: "I like Mrs. Evans. I think she is avery good woman. It seems to me that her manners are quite differentfrom those of the other American ladies whom I have met. I like to meetpeople who are polite. " Then, referring to the subject of the portraitHer Majesty said: "I wonder why Mrs. Conger has this idea. Now pleaseexplain to me what painting a portrait really is. " When I explained thatit would be necessary for her to sit for several hours each day she wasexcited, and afraid she would never have the patience to see it through. She asked me what she must do during the sitting, so I explained thatshe would simply have to pose for the portrait, sitting in one positionall the time She said: "I shall be an old woman by the time the portraitis finished. " I told her that I had had my own portrait painted duringmy stay in Paris, by the same artist Mrs. Conger had proposed shouldpaint her own portrait (Miss Carl). She immediately told me to fetchthe portrait of myself so that she could examine it and see what it waslike, so I gave the order right away to a eunuch who was standing by togo to my house and bring it. Her Majesty said: "I do not understandwhy I must sit for the portrait Couldn't someone else do it for me. "I explained to her that as it was her own portrait, and not that ofsomebody else, they wished to paint, it would be necessary for her tosit herself. She then enquired whether it would be necessary for her towear the same dress at each sitting, also the same jewels and ornaments. I replied that it would be necessary to do so on each occasion. HerMajesty then explained that in China it was only necessary for an artistto see his subject once, after which he could start right away andfinish the portrait in a very short time, and thought that a reallyfirst-class foreign artist should be able to do the same. Of course Iexplained the difference between foreign portrait painting and Chinese, and told her that when she had seen it she would see the difference andunderstand the reason for so many sittings. She said: "I wonder whatkind of a person this lady artist is. Does she speak Chinese?" I saidthat I knew Miss Carl very well, and that she was a very nice lady, butthat she didn't speak Chinese. She said: "If her brother has been in theCustoms service for so long, how is it that she doesn't speak Chinesealso?" I told her that Miss Carl had been away from China for a longtime; that in fact she had only been in China for a very short timealtogether, most of her work being in Europe and America. Her Majestysaid: "I am glad she doesn't understand Chinese. The only objectionabout this portrait painting is that I have to have a foreigner at thePalace all the time. With my own people gossiping they might tell herthings which I don't want anyone to know. " I told her that would beimpossible as Miss Carl did not understand Chinese at all, neither didany of the people at Court understand English, with the exception ofourselves (my mother, sister and myself). Her Majesty answered: "Youmust not rely too much on that, as after spending a short time at theCourt they will soon learn to understand each other. " Continuing, she said: "By the way, how long will it take before this portrait isfinished?" I told her that it depended entirely upon how often she sat, and how long each time. I didn't like to tell her exactly how long itwould take, as I was afraid she might consider it too much bother, soI said that when the artist arrived I would tell her to get along andfinish the portrait as quickly as possible. 

Her Majesty said: "I don't see how I can very well refuse Mrs. Conger'srequest. Of course I told her, as you know, that I would have to consultwith my Ministers, just to give me time to think the matter over. Ifyou know all about this artist lady, and think she is quite all right tocome here to the Palace, of course she may come, and I will tell PrinceChing to reply to Mrs. Conger to that effect. First of all we must talkover what we are going to do, for to have a foreign lady staying in thePalace is out of the question altogether. As a rule I always spend thesummer at my Summer Palace, and it is so far from the city that Idon't think she will be able to go to and from the Palace every day, onaccount of the distance. Now, where can we put her? Someone will haveto watch her all the time. This is such a difficult matter that I hardlyknow what to decide upon. How would you like to look after her? Do youthink you could manage it in such a way that no one at the Palace willhave a chance to talk with her during the daytime, but who is going tostay and watch her during the night?" Her Majesty walked up and down theroom thinking it over for quite a while. Finally she smiled and said: "Ihave it. We can treat her as a prisoner without her knowing it, but itwill all depend on your mother, your sister and yourself to act for mein this matter. Each of you will have to play your part very carefully, and I mine also. I will give orders to have the Palace Garden of PrinceChung (the Emperor Kwang Hsu's father) fixed up for Miss Carl during herstay here. "

This Palace garden is quite close to Her Majesty's own Palace, about tenminutes' drive. It is not in the Palace ground, but is quite a separatePalace outside the Summer Palace. 

Continuing, Her Majesty said: "Now, you will have to come with her everymorning and return to stay with her every night. I think this is thesafest way out of the difficulty, but be careful with regard to allcorrespondence which she may either receive or send away. The only thingabout it is that it will give you a lot of extra work, but you knowhow particular I am over things of this kind, and it will save a lotof trouble in the end. There is another thing you will have to be verycareful about, and that is to watch that Miss Carl has no chance to talkwith the Emperor. The reason why I say this is because, as you know, the Emperor is of a shy disposition, and might say something which wouldoffend her. I will appoint four extra eunuchs to be in attendance duringthe sittings for the portrait, so that they will be on hand in caseanything is wanted. " Her Majesty then said: "I noticed that Mrs. Congerwas watching you when you pulled my sleeve. I wonder what she thoughtof it. You needn't care, anyway. Let her think anything she likes. Iunderstood what you meant if Mrs. Conger didn't, and that is all thatis necessary. " I told her that perhaps Mrs. Conger thought I wanted toadvise her to refuse this request, but Her Majesty said: "What does thatmatter? If it hadn't been that you know the artist yourself I would nothave consented in any case. It is not the painting of the portrait thatI mind, but it might give rise to serious results. "

The next morning I received a letter from Mrs. Conger begging me not toprejudice Her Majesty against Miss Carl in any way. I translated this toHer Majesty, and it made her furious. She said: "No one has any rightto write to you in such a way. How dare she suggest that you would sayanything against Miss Carl? Didn't I tell you she was watching you whenyou pulled my sleeve? When you reply to that letter tell her whateveryou like, but answer in the same way she writes herself, or, betterstill, you write and inform her that it is not customary for any Courtlady to try and influence Her Majesty in this country, and that inaddition, you are not so mean as to say anything against anybody. If youdon't like to say that, just say that as Miss Carl is a personal friendof yours you certainly would never think of saying anything againsther. "

I therefore replied to Mrs. Conger's letter in the ordinary way, makingit as formal as possible. 

Her Majesty then talked of nothing but the portrait during the whole ofthat afternoon. By and bye she said: "I hope that Mrs. Conger will notsend a missionary lady with Miss Carl to keep her company during herstay at the Palace. If she does I will certainly refuse to sit. " The nextmorning the eunuch arrived with my portrait, and everyone at the Courthad a good look at it before I took it to show to Her Majesty. Some ofthem were of the opinion that it was very much like me, while the othersthought the painting a very poor one. When I informed Her Majesty of thearrival of the portrait she ordered that it should be brought into herbedroom immediately. She scrutinized it very carefully for a while, eventouching the painting in her curiosity. Finally she burst out laughingand said: "What a funny painting this is, it looks as though it had beenpainted with oil. " (Of course it was an oil painting. ) "Such rough workI never saw in all my life. The picture itself is marvellously like you, and I do not hesitate to say that none of our Chinese painters could getthe expression which appears on this picture. What a funny dress youare wearing in this picture. Why are your arms and neck all bare? I haveheard that foreign ladies wear their dresses without sleeves and withoutcollars, but I had no idea that it was so bad and ugly as the dress youare wearing here. I cannot imagine how you could do it. I should havethought you would have been ashamed to expose yourself in that manner. Don't wear any more such dresses, please. It has quite shocked me. Whata funny kind of civilization this is to be sure. Is this dress only wornon certain occasions, or is it worn any time, even when gentlemen arepresent?" I explained to her that it was the usual evening dress forladies and was worn at dinners, balls, receptions, etc. Her Majestylaughed and exclaimed: "This is getting worse and worse. Everythingseems to go backwards in foreign countries. Here we don't even exposeour wrists when in the company of gentlemen, but foreigners seem tohave quite different ideas on the subject. The Emperor is always talkingabout reform, but if this is a sample we had much better remain as weare. Tell me, have you yet changed your opinion with regard to foreigncustoms? Don't you think that our own customs are much nicer?" Of courseI was obliged to say "yes" seeing that she herself was so prejudiced. She again examined the portrait and said: "Why is it that one sideof your face is painted white and the other black? This is notnatural--your face is not black. Half of your neck is painted black, too. How is it?" I explained that it was simply the shading and waspainted exactly as the artist saw me from the position in which she wassitting. Her Majesty then enquired: "Do you think that this Artist ladywill paint my picture to look black also? It is going to America, andI don't want the people over there to imagine that half of my face iswhite and half black. " I didn't like to tell her the truth, that herportrait would in all probability be painted the same as mine, so Ipromised Her Majesty that I would tell the artist exactly how she wishedto be painted. She then asked me if I knew when the artist proposedcommencing the portrait. I told her that the artist was still inShanghai, but that Mrs. Conger had already written to her to come up toPeking, to make the necessary preparations. One week later I received aletter from Miss Carl informing me that she proposed coming up to Pekingat once, and that she would be delighted if Her Majesty would allowher to paint this portrait. I translated the letter to Her Majesty, whosaid: "I am very glad that you know this lady personally. It will makeit much easier for me. You know there may be some things which I maywant to tell Miss Carl, but which I don't want Mrs. Conger to know. Imean that there might be certain things which I shall have to say toMiss Carl, which, if Mrs. Conger heard of them, would give her theimpression that I was very difficult to please. You understand what Imean. As this lady is a friend of yours, you will of course be able totell her things in such a manner as not to offend her, and I may tellyou again that if it were not that she is a personal friend of yourown I would not have her here at all, as it is quite contrary to ourcustom. "

On the third day of the second-fifth moon Prince Ching informed HerMajesty that the artist had arrived at Peking and was staying with Mrs. Conger and wished to know Her Majesty's pleasure in regard to commencingthe portrait. Now I must explain that the Chinese year varies as to thenumber of moons it contains. For example, one year contains the ordinarytwelve months or moons. The following year may contain thirteen moons. Then the two years following that may contain twelve moons only, andthirteen moons the next year, and so on. At the time of the proposedvisit of the artist the Chinese year contained thirteen moons, therebeing two fifth moons in that year. When Prince Ching asked Her Majestyto name the day on which Miss Carl should commence her work, shereplied: "I will give her my answer to-morrow. I must first consult mybook, as I don't want to start this portrait on an unlucky day. " So thenext day, after her usual morning audience Her Majesty consulted thisbook for quite a time. Finally she said to me: "According to my book thenext lucky day will not occur for another ten days or so, " and handed methe book to look myself. Eventually she picked out the twentieth day ofthe second-fifth moon as the most lucky day for beginning the work. Nextshe had to consult the book again in order to fix on the exact hour, finally fixing on 7 o'clock in the evening. I was very much worried whenshe told me that, as by that time it would be quite dark, so I explainedto Her Majesty as nicely as I could that it would be impossible for MissCarl to work at that hour of the day. Her Majesty replied: "Well, wehave electric lights here. Surely that would be sufficient light forher. " Then I had to explain that it would not be possible to get suchgood results by means of artificial light as if it were painted duringthe daytime. You see I was anxious to get her to change the hour, asI was sure that Miss Carl would refuse to paint by means of electriclight. Her Majesty replied: "What a bother. I can paint pictures myselfin any kind of light, and she ought to be able to do the same. " Aftermuch discussion it was finally settled that 10 o'clock on the morning ofthe twentieth day of the second-fifth moon should be the time for MissCarl to commence to paint this portrait, and I can assure you that Ifelt very much relieved when it was all settled. When the eunuch broughtin my portrait, he also brought in several photographs which I had hadtaken during my stay in Paris, but I decided not to show them to HerMajesty in case she should decide to have a photograph taken instead ofhaving this portrait painted, as it would be much quicker and save herthe trouble of sitting each day. However, as Her Majesty was passing onthe veranda in front of my bedroom the next morning she stepped intothe room just to have a look around and, as she put it, to see whetherI kept everything clean, and in good order. This was the first timeshe had visited me in my own room, and I was naturally very muchembarrassed, as she very rarely visited the rooms of her Court ladies. Icould not keep her standing, and I could not ask her to sit down inany of my own chairs, as it is the Chinese custom that the Emperor andEmpress should only sit down in their own special chairs, which areusually carried by an attendant wherever they go. I therefore was on thepoint of giving an order for her own stool to be brought in, when HerMajesty stopped me and said that she would sit on one of the chairs inthe room, and so bring me good luck. So she sat down in an easy chair. A eunuch brought in her tea, which I handed to her myself instead ofletting the eunuch wait upon her. This of course was Court etiquette, and was also a sign of respect

After she had finished her tea, she got up and went around the room, examining everything, opening up all my bureau drawers and boxes inorder to see whether I kept my things in proper order. Happening toglance into one corner of the room she exclaimed: "What are thosepictures on the table over there, " and walked across to examine them. Assoon as she picked them up, she exclaimed in much surprise: "Why, theyare all photographs of yourself, and are very much better than thepicture you had painted. They are more like you. Why didn't you showthem to me before?" I hardly knew what to answer, and when she saw thatI was very much embarrassed by her question, she immediately startedtalking about something else. She often acted in this manner when shesaw that any of us were not quite prepared for any of her questions, but she would be sure to reopen the subject at some future time, when wewere expected to give a direct answer. 

After examining the photographs for sometime, which by the way, wereall taken in European dress, Her Majesty said: "Now these are goodphotographs; much better than the portrait you had painted. Still I havegiven my promise, and I suppose I shall have to keep it. However, ifI do have my photograph taken, it will not interfere at all with thepainting of the portrait. The only trouble is I cannot ask an ordinaryprofessional photographer to the Palace. It would hardly be the thing. "

My mother thereupon explained to Her Majesty that if she desired to haveher photograph taken, one of my brothers, who had studied photographyfor some considerable time, would be able to do all that was necessary. 

I would like to explain that I had two brothers at Court at that time, who held appointments under the Empress Dowager. One was in charge ofall the electrical installation at the Summer Palace, and the other, herprivate steam launch. It was the custom for all the sons of the Manchuofficials to hold certain positions at the Court for two or three years. They were perfectly free to walk about the grounds of the Palace, andsaw Her Majesty daily. Her Majesty was always very kind to these youngmen, and chatted with them in quite a motherly way. These young fellowshad to come to the Palace each morning very early, but as no man wasallowed to stay all night in the Palace they of course had to leave whenthey had finished their duties for the day. 

When Her Majesty heard what my mother said, she was very much surprised, and asked why she had never been told that my brother was learned inphotography. My mother replied that she had no idea that Her Majestywished to have a photograph taken, and had not dared to suggest such athing herself. Her Majesty laughed, and said: "You may suggest anythingyou like, as I want to try anything that is new to me, especially asoutsiders can know nothing about it. " She gave orders to send for mybrother at once. On his arrival Her Majesty said to him: "I hear thatyou are a photographer. I am going to give you something to do. " Mybrother was kneeling, as was the custom of the Court, whilst Her Majestywas addressing him. Everybody, with the exception of the Court ladies, had to kneel when she was speaking to them. Even the Emperor himself wasno exception to this rule. Of course the Court ladies, being constantlyin attendance, were allowed not to kneel, as Her Majesty was talking tous all the time, and it was her orders that we should not do so, as itwould be wasting a lot of time. 

Her Majesty asked my brother when he would be able to come and take herphotograph, and what kind of weather was necessary. My brother said thathe would go back to Peking that night, to fetch his camera, and that hecould take the photograph at any time she desired, as the weather wouldnot affect the work. So Her Majesty decided to have her photograph takenthe next morning. She said: "I want to have one taken first of all inmy chair, when going to the audience, and you can take some othersafterwards. " She also asked my brother how long she would have to sit, and was surprised to learn that only a few seconds would suffice. Nextshe enquired how long it would be before it was finished, so that shecould see it. My brother answered that if it were taken in the morningit could be finished late the same afternoon. Her Majesty said that wasdelightful, and expressed a wish to watch him do the work. She toldmy brother that he might select any room in the Palace to work in, andordered a eunuch to make the necessary preparations. 

The next day was a beautiful day, and at eight o'clock my brother waswaiting in the courtyard with several cameras. Her Majesty went to thecourtyard and examined each of them. She said: "How funny it is that youcan take a person's picture with a thing like that. " After the method oftaking the photograph had been fully explained to her, she commanded oneof the eunuchs to stand in front of the camera so that she mightlook through the focusing glass, to see what it was like. Her Majestyexclaimed: "Why is it your head is upside down? Are you standing on yourhead or feet?" So we explained when the photo was taken it would notlook that way. She was delighted with the result of her observations, and said that it was marvellous. Finally she told me to go and standthere, as she wanted to have a look at me through this glass also. Shethen exchanged places with me, and desired that I should look throughthe glass and see if I could make out what she was doing. She wavedher hand in front of the camera, and on my telling her of it, she waspleased. 

She then entered her chair, and ordered the bearers to proceed. Mybrother took another photograph of Her Majesty in the procession as shepassed the camera. After she had passed the camera she turned and askedmy brother: "Did you take a picture?" and on my brother answering thathe had, Her Majesty said: "Why didn't you tell me? I was looking tooserious. Next time when you are going to take one, let me know so that Imay try and look pleasant. "

I knew that Her Majesty was very much pleased. While we were at the backof the screen during the audience, I noticed that she seemed anxious toget it over, in order to have some more photographs taken. It only tookabout twenty minutes to get that particular audience over, which wasvery rare. 

After the people had gone, we came from behind the screen and HerMajesty said: "Let us go and have some more pictures taken while theweather is fine. " So she walked the courtyard of the Audience Hall, where my brother had a camera ready, and had another photograph taken. She said that she would like to have some taken sitting on her throne, exactly as though she were holding an audience. It took us only a fewminutes to have everything prepared in the courtyard. The screen wasplaced behind the throne, and her footstool was also placed ready forher, and she ordered one of the Court ladies to go and bring severalgowns for her to select from. At the same time I went and brought someof her favorite jewelry. She ordered the two gowns which she had wornat the audiences when she received Admiral Evans and Mrs. Evans, to bebrought in, and also the same jewels as she had worn on those respectiveoccasions. She had two photographs taken in these costumes, one ineach dress. Next she wanted one taken in a plain gown, without anyembroidery. She then ordered my brother to go and finish the pictureswhich had already been taken, as she was anxious to see what they werelike. She said to my brother: "You wait a minute, I want to go withyou and see how you work on them. " Of course, I had not consideredit necessary to explain to Her Majesty the process of developing thepictures, the dark room, etc. , so I explained to her as well as I couldthe whole thing. Her Majesty replied: "It doesn't matter. I want togo and see the room, no matter what kind of a room it is. " So we alladjourned to the dark room in order to see my brother work on thephotographs. We placed a chair so that Her Majesty could sit down. Shesaid to my brother: "You must forget that I am here, and go along withyour work just as usual. " She watched for a while, and was very pleasedwhen she saw that the plates were developing so quickly. My brother heldup the plate to the red light, to enable her to see more distinctly. Her Majesty said: "It is not very clear. I can see that it is myself allright, but why is it that my face and hands are dark?" We explained toher that when the picture was printed on paper, these dark spots wouldshow white, and the white parts would be dark. She said: "Well, one isnever too old to learn. This is something really new to me. I am notsorry that I suggested having my photograph taken, and only hope thatI shall like the portrait painting as well. " She said to my brother:"Don't finish these photographs until after I have had my afternoonrest. I want to see you do it. " When she got up at about half-pastthree, it did not take her long to dress herself, as was her usualcustom, and she went immediately to where my brother had the papers andeverything prepared. He then showed Her Majesty how the printing wasdone. There was plenty of light, as it was summer time, and as it wasonly four o'clock in the afternoon, the sun was still high. Her Majestywatched for two hours while my brother was printing, and was delightedto see each picture come out quite plainly. She held the first one inher hands so long while examining the others, that when she came to lookat it again, she found that it had turned quite black. She could notunderstand this at all, and exclaimed: "Why has this gone black? Is itbad luck?" We explained to her that it must be washed after printing, otherwise a strong light would cause the picture to fade, as this onehad done. She said: "How very interesting, and what a lot of work thereis. "

After the printing process had been finished, my brother placed thepictures in a chemical bath, as usual, finally washing them in cleanwater. This caused Her Majesty even more surprise when she saw how clearthe pictures came out, and caused her to exclaim: "How extraordinary. Everything is quite true to life. " When they were finally completed, she took the whole of them to her own room and sat down on her littlethrone, and gazed at them for a long time. She even took her mirror inorder to compare her reflection with the photographs just taken. 

All this time my brother was standing in the courtyard awaiting HerMajesty's further commands. Suddenly she recollected this fact, andsaid: "Why, I had forgotten all about your brother. The poor fellowmust be still standing waiting to know what I want next. You go and tellhim--no, I had better go and speak to him myself. He has worked so hardall the day, that I want to say something to make him feel happy. " Sheordered my brother to print ten copies of each of the photographs, andto leave all his cameras at the Palace, in order that he could proceedwith the work the next day. 

The following ten days it rained continually, which made Her Majestyvery impatient, as it was impossible to take any more photographs untilthe weather improved. Her Majesty wanted to have some taken in theThrone Room, but this room was too dark, the upper windows being pastedover with thick paper, only the lower windows allowing the light toenter. My brother tried several times, but failed to get a good picture. 

During this rainy period the Court was moved to the Sea Palace, asthe Emperor was to sacrifice at the Temple of Earth. This was a yearlyceremony and was carried out on similar lines to all other annualceremonies. On account of the rain Her Majesty ordered that boats shouldbe brought alongside the west shore of the Summer Palace. On enteringthe boats, Her Majesty, accompanied by the Court, proceeded tothe Western Gate of the city, and on arrival at the last bridge, disembarked. Chairs were awaiting us and we rode to the gate of the SeaPalace. There we again entered the boats and proceeded across the lake, a distance of about a mile. While crossing the lake Her Majesty noticeda lot of lotus plants which were in full bloom. She said: "We are goingto stay at least three days here. I hope the weather will be fine, asI should like to have some photographs taken in the open boats on thelake. I have also another; good idea, and that is, I want to have onetaken as 'Kuan Yin' (Goddess of Mersy). The two chief eunuchs will bedressed as attendants. The necessary gowns were made some time ago, andI occasionally put them on. Whenever I have been angry, or worried overanything, by dressing up as the Goddess of Mercy it helps me to calmmyself, and so play the part I represent. I can assure you that it doeshelp me a great deal, as it makes me remember that I am looked upon asbeing all-merciful. By having a photograph taken of myself dressed inthis costume, I shall be able to see myself as I ought to be at alltimes. "

When we arrived at the private Palace the rain ceased. We walked toher bedroom, although the ground was still in bad condition. One ofHer Majesty's peculiarities was a desire to go out in the rain and walkabout. She would not even use an umbrella unless it was raining veryheavily. The eunuchs always carried our umbrellas, but if Her Majestydid not use her umbrella, of course we could not very well use ours. Thesame thing applied in everything. If Her Majesty wanted to walk, we hadto walk also, and if she decided to ride in her chair, we had to getinto our chairs and ride as well. The only exception to this rule waswhen Her Majesty, being tired walking, ordered her stool to rest on. Wewere not allowed to sit in her presence, but had to stand all the time. Her Majesty liked her Sea Palace better than her Palace in the ForbiddenCity. It was far prettier, and had the effect of making her goodtempered. 

Her Majesty ordered us to retire early that day, as we were all verytired after the trip, and said that in the event of it being fine thenext day, she would have the proposed photographs taken. However, muchto Her Majesty's disappointment, it rained incessantly for the nextthree days, so it was decided to stay a few days longer. On the last dayof our stay it cleared up sufficiently to enable the photographs to betaken, after which we all returned to the Summer Palace. 

The day after our arrival at the Summer Palace Her Majesty said thatwe had better prepare everything for the audience to receive the ladyartist (Miss Carl). She told the chief eunuch to issue orders to allthe other eunuchs not to speak to Miss Carl, but simply be polite asoccasion required. We Court ladies received similar orders. Also, thatwe were not to address Her Majesty while Miss Carl was present. TheEmperor received similar instructions. Her Majesty gave orders to havethe Gardens of Prince Chung's Palace ready. She then said to us: "Itrust you three to look after this lady artist. I have already givenorders for food to be supplied by the Wai Wu Pu. The only thing thatI have been worried about is that I have no foreign food here for MissCarl. " She ordered us to have our stove taken over to Prince Chung'sPalace in case Miss Carl desired something cooked. She said: "I knowit will be very hard for you to take her to the Palace each morning andreturn with her at night, besides having to watch her all day long, butI know you do not mind. You are doing all this for me. " After a whileshe smiled, and said: "How selfish of me. I order you to bring all yourthings to this place, but what is your father going to do? The bestthing will be to ask your father to come and live in the same place. Thecountry air might benefit him. " We kowtowed and thanked Her Majesty, as this was a special favor, no official nor anyone else having beenallowed to live in Prince Chung's Palace previously. We all were verypleased--I could now see my father every day. Hitherto we had only beenable to see him about once a month, and then only by asking specialleave. 

The next day Her Majesty sent us to Prince Chung's Palace to make allnecessary arrangements for Miss Carl's stay. 

This Palace of Prince Chung's was a magnificent place. All the smallerdwellings were quite separate from each other, not in one largebuilding, as was the custom. There was a small lake in the grounds, andlovely little paths to walk along, exactly like the Empress Dowager'sSummer Palace, but, of course, on a much smaller scale. We selected oneof these small dwellings, or summer houses, for the use of Miss Carlduring her stay, and had it fitted up nicely, to make her as comfortableas possible. We ourselves were to occupy the next house to Miss Carl, inorder that we might always be on hand, and at the same time keep a goodeye on her. We returned to the Summer Palace the same evening, and toldHer Majesty just how everything had been arranged. She said: "I want youall to be very careful not to let this lady know that you are watchingher. " She seemed very anxious about this, repeating these instructionsfor several days prior to Miss Carl's arrival. 

I felt very much relieved when the day before the audience arrived, andeverything was finally fixed to Her Majesty's satisfaction. She orderedus to retire early that evening, as she wanted to rest and look wellthe next morning. When morning came we hurried over everything, eventhe usual morning audience, so that we could be ready when Miss Carlarrived. 

While I was standing behind the screen, as usual, a eunuch came and toldme that Mrs. Conger, the artist, and another lady had arrived, and thatthey were now in the waiting room. By that time the audience was aboutfinished. The chief eunuch came in and told Her Majesty that the foreignladies had arrived and were waiting in another room. Her Majesty said tous: "I think I will go to the courtyard and meet them there. " Of course, at all private audiences Her Majesty received the people in the ThroneRoom, but as Miss Carl was more of a guest, she did not think itnecessary to go through the usual formal reception. 

While we were descending the steps we saw the ladies entering the gateof the courtyard. I pointed out Miss Carl to Her Majesty, and noticedthat she eyed Miss Carl very keenly. When we arrived in the courtyard, Mrs. Conger came forward and greeted Her Majesty and then presented MissCarl. Her Majesty's first impression of Miss Carl was a good one, asMiss Carl was smiling very pleasantly, and Her Majesty, who always likedto see a pleasant smile, exclaimed to me in an undertone: "She seems tobe a very pleasant person, " to which I replied that I was very glad shethought so, as I was very anxious about the impression Miss Carl wouldmake on Her Majesty. Her Majesty watched Miss Carl and myself as wegreeted each other, and I could see that she was satisfied. She told meafterwards that she had noticed Miss Carl appeared very glad to seeme again, and said: "We will handle her pretty easily, I think. " HerMajesty then went to her own private Palace, and we all followed. On ourarrival, Miss Carl told me that she had brought her own canvas. Thiswas a piece about six feet by four feet. I had told Miss Carl a littlepreviously that Her Majesty refused to sit for a very small portrait andthat she would like a life-size one. When Her Majesty saw the canvas sheappeared to be very much disappointed, as in her opinion even that wasnot large enough. We placed the tables ready for Miss Carl, and HerMajesty asked her to choose the position in which she wished to paint. I knew that Miss Carl would have great difficulty in choosing a goodposition on account of the windows being built so low, there being verylittle light except low down near the ground. However, Miss Carl finallyplaced the canvas near the door of the room. Her Majesty told Mrs. Conger and the rest to sit down for a while as she wanted to change intoanother gown. I followed her into her bedroom. The first question HerMajesty asked was how old I thought Miss Carl was, as she herself couldnot guess her age, her hair being extremely light, in fact almost white. I could hardly refrain from laughing outright on hearing this, and toldHer Majesty that Miss Carl's hair was naturally of a light color. HerMajesty said that she had often seen ladies with golden hair, but neverone with white hair, excepting old ladies. She said: "I think that sheis very nice, however, and hope she will paint a good portrait. "

Turning to one of the Court ladies, she ordered her to fetch a yellowgown as although, as she put it, she did not like yellow, she thought itwould be the best color for a portrait. She selected one from a numberwhich the Court lady brought, embroidered all over with purple wisteria. Her shoes and handkerchiefs matched. She also wore a blue silk scarf, embroidered with the character "Shou" (long life). Each character hada pearl in the center. She wore a pair of jade bracelets and also jadenail protectors. In addition she wore jade butterflies and a tassel onone side of her headdress, and, as usual, fresh flowers on the otherside. Her Majesty certainly did look beautiful on that occasion. 

By the time she came out from her room Miss Carl had everythingprepared. When she saw how Her Majesty was dressed, she exclaimed: "Howbeautiful Her Majesty looks in this dress, " which remark I interpretedto Her Majesty, and it pleased her very much. 

She seated herself on her throne, ready to pose for the picture. Shejust sat down in an ordinary easy position, placing one hand on acushion. Miss Carl explained: "That is an excellent position, as it isso natural. Please do not move. " I told Her Majesty what Miss Carl said, and she asked me whether she looked all right, or not. If not, she wouldchange her position. I assured her that she looked very grand in thatposition. However, she asked the opinion of the Young Empress and someof the Court ladies, who all agreed that she could not look better. Icould see that they never looked at Her Majesty at all, they were toomuch interested in what Miss Carl was doing. 

When Miss Carl commenced to make the rough sketch of Her Majestyeveryone watched with open mouth, as they had never seen anything doneso easily and so naturally. The Young Empress whispered to me: "AlthoughI don't know anything about portrait painting, still I can see that sheis a good artist. She has never seen any of our clothes and headdresses, and she has copied them exactly. Just imagine one of our Chinese artiststrying to paint a foreign lady, what a mess he would make of it. "

After the sketch was finished Her Majesty was delighted and thoughtit was wonderful for Miss Carl to have made it so quickly and soaccurately. I explained that this was a rough sketch and that when MissCarl commenced painting, she would soon see the difference. Her Majestytold me to ask Miss Carl whether she was tired and would like to rest;also to tell her that she was very busy all the day, and would only beable to give her a few minutes' sitting each day. We then took MissCarl to luncheon, together with Mrs. Conger, and after luncheon weaccompanied Her Majesty to the theatre. 

After Mrs. Conger had departed I took Miss Carl to my room to rest. Assoon as we arrived there, Her Majesty sent a eunuch to call me to herbedroom. Her Majesty said: "I don't want this lady to paint during myafternoon rest. She can rest at the same time. As soon as I am up youcan bring her here to paint. I am glad that it looks like turning outbetter than I had anticipated. " I therefore told Miss Carl Her Majesty'swishes in this respect and that she could paint for a little while, if she chose to, after Her Majesty had had her rest. Miss Carl was sointerested in Her Majesty, she told me she didn't want to rest atall, but that she would like to go on with the painting right away. Ofcourse, I did not like to tell her anything the first day, as it mightupset her, and did not say that this was a command from Her Majesty. After a lot of maneuvering I got her to give up the idea of continuingstraight off, without offending her. I took her out on the veranda asthe eunuch was preparing the table for Her Majesty's dinner in the roomwe were then occupying. The Young Empress kept Miss Carl busy talking, Iacting as interpreter. Soon one of the eunuchs came and informed us thatHer Majesty had finished dinner, and would we please come and take ours. On entering the room I was very much surprised to see that chairs hadbeen placed there, as this had never been done previously, everybody, with the exception of Her Majesty, taking their meals standing. TheYoung Empress was also very much surprised and asked me whether I knewanything about it. I said that perhaps it was on account of Miss Carlbeing there. The Young Empress told me to go over and ask Her Majesty, as she was afraid to sit down without receiving orders to do so. Her Majesty whispered to me: "I don't want Miss Carl to think we arebarbarians, and treat the Young Empress and the Court ladies in thatmanner. Of course, she does not understand our Court etiquette and mightform a wrong impression, so you can all sit down without coming over tothank me, but be natural, as though you were accustomed to sitting downto dinner every day. "

After Her Majesty had washed her hands she came over to our table. Ofcourse we all stood up. Her Majesty told me to ask Miss Carl whether sheliked the food, and was pleased when Miss Carl answered that she likedthe food better than her own kind. That relieved Her Majesty. 

After dinner was over I told Miss Carl to say good-bye to Her Majesty. We courtesied to her, also to the Young Empress, and said good night tothe Court ladies. We then took Miss Carl to the Palace of Prince Chung. It took us about ten minutes' ride in the carts. We showed Miss Carl herbedroom, and were pleased to leave her and get to our own rooms, for agood night's rest. 

The next morning we took Miss Carl to the Palace, and arrived thereduring the morning audience. Of course Miss Carl, being a foreigner, could not enter the Throne Room, so we sat down on the back verandaof the Audience Hall and waited until it was over. This, of course, prevented my being in attendance each morning, as usual, and was a greatdisappointment to me, as I was unable to keep in touch with what wastaking place. Moreover, during the time I had been at Court, my oneobject had been to endeavor to interest Her Majesty in Western customsand civilization. I believed that to a great extent Her Majesty wasbecoming interested in these things, and would refer the subjects of ourconversations to her Ministers, for their opinions. For instance, I hadshown her photographs taken of a Naval Review at which I was presentin France. Her Majesty seemed to be impressed, and said that she wouldcertainly like to be able to make a similar display in China. Thismatter she consulted with her Ministers, but they gave the usual evasiveanswer, viz. : "There is plenty of time for that. " From this you will seethat Her Majesty was not able to introduce reforms entirely alone, eventhough she might desire to do so, but had to consult the Ministers, whowould always agree with Her Majesty, but would suggest that the matterbe put off for a time. 

My experience while at the Palace was that everybody seemed to be afraidto suggest anything new for fear they might get themselves into trouble. 

When Her Majesty came out from the Audience Hall, Miss Carl went upto her and kissed Her Majesty's hand, which caused her great surprise, although she did not show it at the time. Afterwards, however, when wewere alone, she asked me why Miss Carl had done this, as it was not aChinese custom. She naturally thought that it must be a foreign custom, and therefore said nothing about it. 

Her Majesty then proceeded on foot to her own Palace, to change herdress for the portrait. It was a beautiful morning, and when she hadposed for about ten minutes, she told me that she felt too tired toproceed, and asked if it would be all right to ask Miss Carl to postponeit. I explained that as Miss Carl was going to be at the Palace forsome time, the postponement of one day's sitting would not make muchdifference at that time, although I knew that Miss Carl would naturallybe disappointed. Still, I had to humor Her Majesty as much as possible, otherwise she might have thrown up the whole thing. Miss Carl said thatif Her Majesty wished to go to rest, she could be working painting thescreen and the throne, and Her Majesty could pose again later on if shefelt like it. This pleased Her Majesty, and she said that she would tryto sit again after taking her afternoon's rest. Her Majesty ordered meto give Miss Carl her lunch in my own room at twelve o'clock each day, my mother, my sister and myself keeping her company. Dinner at thePalace was usually taken about six o'clock, and it was arranged thatMiss Carl should take dinner with the Young Empress and the Court ladiesat that hour, after Her Majesty had finished dining. Her Majesty alsoordered that champagne or any other wine which Miss Carl preferred, should be served, as she said she knew it was the custom for all foreignladies to take wine with their meals. Where she got hold of thisidea, nobody knew. I was sure that Her Majesty had been misinformed bysomebody, but it would have been bad policy to have tried to tell herdifferent at the moment. She disliked very much to be told that she waswrong in any of these things, and it could only be done by waiting andcasually introducing the subject at some other time. 

After Miss Carl had gone to rest during the afternoon, Her Majestysent for me and asked the usual question, viz. : What had Miss Carl beensaying? etc. , etc. She seemed particularly anxious to know what MissCarl thought of her, and when I told her that Miss Carl had said thatshe was very beautiful and quite young looking, she said: "Oh! well, of course Miss Carl would say that to you. " However, on my assuring herthat Miss Carl had given this opinion without being asked for it, she showed very plainly that she was not at all displeased with thecompliment. 

Suddenly Her Majesty said: "I have been thinking that if Miss Carl canpaint the screen and the throne, surely she ought to be able to paintmy clothes and jewels, without it being necessary for me to pose all thetime. " I told her that would be quite impossible, as nobody could holdthe things for Miss Carl to get the proper effect. To my surprise sheanswered: "Well, that is easily gotten over. You wear them in my place. "I hardly knew what to say, but thought I would get out of thedifficulty by telling her that perhaps Miss Carl would not like such anarrangement. Her Majesty, however, could see no possible objectionon Miss Carl's part, as she herself could pose when the time came forpainting her face. So I put the matter as nicely as possible to MissCarl, and it was finally arranged that I should dress in Her Majesty'srobes and jewels whenever Her Majesty felt too tired to do the posingherself. In this manner the portrait of the Empress Dowager was painted, and with the exception of just a few hours to enable Miss Carl toget Her Majesty's facial expression, I had to sit for two hours eachmorning, and for another two hours each afternoon until the portrait wasfinished. 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN--THE EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY

MY father's four months' leave having expired, he was received inaudience by their Majesties on the first day of the sixth moon. He wasmuch improved in health, but his rheumatism was still very troublesome. This was particularly noticeable when climbing the steps to the AudienceHall, and Her Majesty ordered two of the eunuchs to assist him. 

First he thanked Her Majesty for her kindness towards my sister andmyself, and, as was the custom, took off his hat and knelt down, bowinghis head until it struck the ground. This ceremony was always gonethrough by any official who had received special favors from TheirMajesties. 

He then replaced his hat on his head and remained kneeling before thethrone. Her Majesty then questioned him about his life in Paris, fromtime to time complimenting him on his work. Seeing that remaining inthis kneeling position appeared to be making him tired, Her Majestyordered one of the eunuchs to bring a cushion for him to use, which wasanother great honor, as this cushion was only used by the President ofthe Grand Council. 

Her Majesty told him that as he was now getting to be a very old man, she did not intend sending him away from China again, as she wanted tokeep my sister and myself at the Court, which she could not do if shesent him to some foreign country, as he would want to take his daughterswith him. She said she was pleased, that although we had been away fromChina for such a long time, we were well acquainted with the Manchucustoms. My father replied that it had been his care that we should bebrought up according to the customs of our own country. 

Her Majesty when asked the Emperor if he had anything to say, and hereplied by asking my father if he spoke French, and thought it verystrange on learning that he did not. My father explained that he hadnever had the time to study it, besides which he considered himself tooold to learn a foreign language. 

The Emperor next asked what was the feeling in France towards China. My father replied that they were very friendly at that time, but thatimmediately after the Boxer trouble the post of Minister had been avery embarrassing one. Her Majesty said that it had been an unfortunateaffair, but she was glad that everything was now settled satisfactorily. She told my father that he was to get well again as quickly as possible, and the audience came to an end. 

Afterwards Her Majesty said that my father was looking very old sincehis return from France and that he would have to be careful and takethings easy until he got stronger again. She was pleased that he hadshown appreciation of her interest in my sister and myself. 

Preparations were now commenced for celebrating the birthday of HisMajesty, the Emperor Kwang Hsu, which was to take place on the 28th ofthat month. The actual date of the Emperor's birthday was the 26th ofthe sixth moon, but this day, being the anniversary of the death of aprevious Emperor of China, we were unable to hold any festivities, and so it was always celebrated on the 28th day instead. The officialcelebration lasted for seven days, three days before and four days afterthe actual date. During that time the whole of the Court dressed inofficial robes, and no business of any kind whatever was attended to. This being the Emperor's 32nd birthday, and as the full celebrationsonly took place every tenth year, i. E. On his 20th birthday, his 30thbirthday, and so on, the festivities were not carried out on a verygrand scale. However, it was quite sufficient to interfere with allbusiness, and the usual morning audiences did not take place duringthese seven days. The Empress Dowager herself was the only person whodid not dress especially during these celebrations, and who did not takeany active part in the festivities. Another reason why the celebrationswere not carried out on a very large scale was the fact that the EmpressDowager, being alive, she took precedence, according to the Manchucustom, over the Emperor himself, in fact she was the actual ruler ofthe country, the Emperor being second. The Emperor was quite aware ofthis fact, and when the Empress commanded that preparations be commencedfor the celebrations, the Emperor would always suggest that it was notat all necessary to celebrate the occasion unless it happened to be atenth year, and would very reluctantly agree to the festivities takingplace. Of course this was more out of politeness on the part of theEmperor and to conform to the recognized etiquette, but the nationrecognized this birthday and naturally celebrated according to the usualcustom. During this period, therefore, the painting of the portrait waspostponed. 

When the morning of the 25th arrived, the Emperor dressed himself in hisofficial robe-yellow gown, embroidered with gold dragons and coat of areddish black color. Of course, being the Emperor, in place of theusual button on the hat he wore a large pearl. I might mention thatthe Emperor was the only person who could wear this particular pearl inplace of a button. He came as usual to wish Her Majesty Chi Hsiang andthen proceeded to the temple to worship before the ancestral tablets. After this ceremony was over he returned to the Empress Dowager andkowtowed to her. All the Chinese adopt this rule of kowtowing to theirparents on their own birthdays, as a sign of reverence and respect. TheEmperor next proceeded to the Audience Hall, where all the Ministerswere assembled, and received their salutations and congratulations. Thisceremony very often caused amusement, for to see several hundred peopleall bobbing their heads up and down, especially when they did not allmanage to do it together, was a very funny sight. Even the Emperorhimself had to laugh, it was such an extraordinary spectacle. 

The musical instruments which were used during the ceremony deserve alittle description. The principal instrument is made of hard wood, andhas a flat bottom about three feet in diameter, with a dome-shaped topraised about three feet from the ground. The inside is quite hollow. A long pole made of the same material is used as a drumstick, and anofficial, specially appointed, beats with all his might on the drum. Thenoise can be better imagined than described. This is used as a signal toannounce when the Emperor takes his seat upon the throne. In additionto the above, a full sized model of a tiger, also made of similar hardwood, and having twenty-four scales on its back, is brought into thecourtyard. In this case they did not beat the instrument, but scrapedalong its back over the scales, which emitted a noise similar to theletting off simultaneously of innumerable crackers. This noise was keptup during the whole of the ceremony, and what with the drum and thistiger instrument it was sufficient to deafen one. During the ceremony, an official crier used to call out the different orders, such as whento kneel, bow, stand up, kowtow, etc. , etc. , but with the noise itwas quite impossible to hear a single word of what he uttered. Anotherinstrument was composed of a frame made of wood, about eight feet highby three feet broad. Across this frame were three wooden bars, fromwhich was suspended twelve bells, made out of pure gold. When these werestruck with a wooden stick the sound was not at all unlike the dulcimer, only, of course, very much louder. This was placed on the right sideof the Audience Hall. On the left side a similar instrument was placed, with the exception that the bells were carved out of white jade. Themusic which could be brought out of the instrument was very sweet. 

When this ceremony of receiving the Ministers was concluded, the Emperorproceeded to his private Palace, where the Young Empress (his wife), the Secondary wife and all the Court ladies were gathered, and, afterkowtowing, all of the Court ladies present, led by the Young Empress, knelt before him and presented him with a Ru Yee. This is a kind ofsceptre. Some are made out of pure jade, while others are made out ofwood inlaid with jade. This Ru Yee is a symbol of good luck and wassupposed to bring happiness and prosperity to the person to whom it waspresented. The ceremony was gone through to the accompaniment of musicplayed on string instruments, which was very sweet. 

Next the eunuchs were received by the Emperor, and they similarlycongratulated him, but without the accompaniment of music. After theeunuchs came the servant girls, and the whole of the ceremony was over. The Emperor next proceeded to Her Majesty's Palace, where he kneltbefore Her Majesty and thanked her for the celebration which had beengiven in his honor, after which Her Majesty, accompanied by the wholeCourt, went to the theatre to see the play. On arrival at the theatre wewere all presented by Her Majesty with sweetmeats, this being the customon these occasions, and after a little while Her Majesty retired for herafternoon rest. Thus the celebration ended. 

Two days after the celebration the seventh moon commenced. Theseventh day of the seventh moon was the occasion of another importantanniversary. 

The two stars, Niu Lang (Capricorn) and Chih Nu (Lyra) are supposed tobe the patrons of agriculture and weaving and, according to tradition, were at one time man and wife. As the result of a quarrel, however, theywere doomed to live apart, being separated from each other by the "MilkyWay. " But on the seventh day of the seventh moon of each year they areallowed to see each other and the magpies are supposed to build a bridgeto enable them to meet. 

The ceremony is rather peculiar. Several basins full of water wereplaced so that the sun's rays would fall upon them. Her Majesty thentook several tiny needles and dropped one into each basin. These floatedon the water, casting a shadow across the bottom of the basins. Theseshadows took different forms, according to the position of the needle, and if the shadow took certain prescribed forms, the person throwingin the needle was supposed to be very lucky and clever, while if theyrepresented certain other forms, they were despised by the gods as beingignorant. In addition, Her Majesty burned incense and offered up prayersto the two gods referred to. 

This was always a sad moon for Her Majesty, it being the anniversary ofthe death of her husband, the Emperor Hsien Feng, who died on the 17thof that month. The fifteenth of the seventh moon each year is the day ofthe festival for the dead, and early in the morning the Court movedto the Sea Palace in order to sacrifice. The Chinese hold that whena person dies, his soul still remains on the earth, and on theseanniversaries they burn imitation money, the belief being that the soulof the departed one will benefit to the extent of the amount of money sorepresented. On the anniversary above referred to Her Majesty sent forhundreds of Buddhist priests to pray for those unfortunate people whohad died without leaving anyone who could sacrifice for them. On theevening of this day, Her Majesty and all her Court ladies set out inopen boats on the lake, where imitation lotus flowers were arranged aslanterns, with a candle placed in the centre, which formed a sort offloating light, the idea being to give light to the spirits of those whohad departed during the year, so as to enable them to come and receivethe blessings which had been prepared for them. Her Majesty ordered usto light the candles and place the flowers on the water ourselves, asshe said it would be appreciated by the spirits of the dead. Some of theeunuchs had told Her Majesty that they had actually seen some of thesespirits, which assertion was thoroughly believed. Although she had neverseen them herself, she accounted for this by the fact that she was oftoo high a rank and the spirits were afraid of her, but she ordered allthe rest of us to keep a sharp lookout and tell her if we saw anything. Of course we didn't see anything, but many of the Court ladies were sofrightened that they closed their eyes for fear they might see somethingsupernatural. 

Her Majesty was devoted to the late Emperor Hsien Feng, and she was verysad and morose during this period. We all had to be very careful indeednot to upset her in any way, as she would find fault on the slightestprovocation. She hardly had a word to say to any of us, and cried almostincessantly. I could hardly understand the reason for such grief, seeingthat the Emperor had died so many years previously. None of the Courtladies were allowed to dress in light-coloured gowns during the whole ofthe seventh moon. We all dressed either in dark blue or pale blue, whileHer Majesty herself dressed in black every day without exception. Evenher handkerchiefs were black. The theatres which were usually opened onthe first and fifteenth of each month, were closed during the seventhmoon. There was no music, and everything was conducted in the mostsolemn manner; in fact, the whole Court was in deep mourning. 

On the morning of the seventeenth day of the seventh moon, Her Majestyvisited the late Emperor's tablet, and knelt there crying for quite awhile. In order to show respect for the late Emperor, none of us wereallowed to eat meat for three days. This being my first year at thePalace, it appeared to me very strange, after the customary gaiety andnoise. Of course I felt very sorry for Her Majesty, as I could see thatit was a genuine display of grief and was not in any way put on. As Iwas her favorite at that time, she kept me close to her side during thissad period. The Young Empress said to me one day: "Her Majesty is verymuch attached to you, and I think you had better stay with her for thetime being. " This I did, and I was so miserable myself that when HerMajesty commenced crying I would cry also. When she saw that I wascrying, Her Majesty would immediately stop and ask me not to cry. Shewould tell me that I was too young to cry, and that in any case I didnot know what real sorrow was as yet. During the conversations we had atthat time she would tell me quite a lot about herself. On one occasionshe said: "You know I have had a very hard life ever since I was ayoung girl. I was not a bit happy when with my parents, as I was not thefavorite. My sisters had everything they wanted, while I was, to a greatextent, ignored altogether. When I first came to the Court, a lot ofthe people were jealous of me because I was considered to be a beautifulwoman at that time. I must say myself that I was a clever one, for Ifought my own battles, and won them, too. When I arrived at Court thelate Emperor became very much attached to me and would hardly glance atany of the other ladies. Fortunately, I was lucky in giving birth to ason, as it made me the Emperor's undisputed favorite; but after thatI had very bad luck. During the last year of his reign the Emperor wasseized with a sudden illness. In addition to this the foreign soldiersburnt down the Palace at Yuen Ming Yuen, so we fled to Jehol. Of courseeverybody knows what took place at that time. I was still a young woman, with a dying husband and a young son. The East Empress Dowager's nephewwas a bad man, who coveted the throne, which he had no right to inany event, as he was not of royal blood. I would not wish anyone toexperience what I myself passed through at that time. When the Emperorwas in a dying condition, being practically unconscious of what wastaking place around him, I took my son to his bedside and asked him whatwas going to be done about his successor to the throne. He made no replyto this, but, as has always been the case in emergencies, I was equal tothe occasion, and I said to him: 'Here is your son, ' on hearing which heimmediately opened his eyes and said: 'Of course he will succeed to thethrone. ' I naturally felt relieved when this was settled once andfor all. These words were practically the last he spoke, for he diedimmediately afterwards. Although it is now so many years ago, I can seehim now in that dying condition, just as though it all happened onlyyesterday. 

"I thought that I could be happy with my son as the Emperor Tung Chi, but unfortunately he died before he was twenty years of age. Since thattime I have been a changed woman, as all happiness was over as far as Iwas concerned when he died. I had also quite a lot of trouble with theEast Empress Dowager and found it very difficult to keep on good termswith her. However, she died five years after the death of my son. Inaddition to all this, when the Emperor Kwang Hsu was brought to me as ababy three years old, he was a very sickly child, and could hardly walk, he was so thin and weak. His parents seemed to be afraid of giving himanything to eat. You know his father was Prince Chung, and his motherwas my sister, so of course he was almost the same as my own son, in fact I adopted him as such. Even now, after all my trouble on hisaccount, he is not in perfect health. As you know, I have had plenty ofother troubles beside these, but it is useless to mention them now. Iam disappointed with everything, as nothing has turned out as I hadexpected. " With this remark Her Majesty commenced crying afresh. Continuing, she said: "People seem to think that just because I am theEmpress Dowager that I am bound to be happy, but what I have justtold you is not all. I have gone through much more than that. If everanything went wrong, I was always the one who was blamed. The censorseven dare to impeach me once in a while. However, I am philosopherenough to take things for what they are worth, otherwise I would havebeen in my own grave long, long ago. Just imagine how small minded thesepeople are. Amongst other things they objected to my transferring myCourt to the Summer Palace during the hot weather, although I could dono harm by being there. Even in the short time you have spent at Court, you can see that I am unable to decide anything alone, while wheneverthey want anything they consult with each other and then present theirpetition to me, which, unless it is something of a very serious nature, I never think of refusing. "

After the time set apart for mourning had expired, we all went backto the Summer Palace, where Miss Carl re-commenced her work on HerMajesty's portrait. Her Majesty apparently soon got tired of thisportrait painting, for one day she asked me when I thought it would befinished. She was afraid that it would not be finished by the time thecold weather came on, when we always removed the Court to the ForbiddenCity, and she said it would be a lot of trouble and inconvenience tohave to continue the portrait there. I told Her Majesty that it couldeasily be arranged and that she need not worry herself. 

After I had been posing in Her Majesty's place for several days HerMajesty asked me whether Miss Carl had said anything about it, and ifshe did, I was to inform her that it was a command from Her Majesty, andthat I dare not make any further suggestions in that respect. So we hadno further trouble with Miss Carl after that. I had, however, quitea lot of trouble with the eunuchs, who, in spite of Her Majesty'sinstructions, were anything but polite to Miss Carl. Of course MissCarl herself did not know this. I tried to make them behave better bythreatening to tell Her Majesty about them, which had a good effect fora while, but they were soon as bad as ever. 

At the commencement of the eighth moon, Her Majesty always attended tothe transplanting of her chrysanthemums, which was one of her favoriteflowers, so each day she would take us with her to the west side of thelake and, assisted by us, would cut the tops of the young plants and setthem in flower pots. I was very much surprised at this, as there wereno roots, only the stems of the flowers, but Her Majesty assured me thatthey would soon grow into very pretty plants. Every day we went over towater these flowers until they began to bud. In case it rained heavily, Her Majesty would order some of the eunuchs to go over and cover upthese chrysanthemum plants with mats, so that they would not be broken. It was characteristic of Her Majesty that, no matter what other businessshe had to attend to, her flowers had her first consideration andshe would, if necessary, even go without her usual rest in order tosuperintend them personally. She also spent quite a time in lookingafter her orchard, where she had planted apple trees, pear trees, etc. Another thing which I began to notice was that when the spring andsummer days had passed, she got quite irritable and sad, while in thewinter she was simply unbearable. She loathed cold weather. 

One day, during the eighth moon, Her Majesty was taken slightly ill, andcomplained of suffering from severe headaches. This was the only time Iever saw Her Majesty actually sick. She, however, got up as usual inthe morning, and held audience, but was unable to take her luncheon, andvery soon had to retire to her bed. Several doctors were summoned, eachof whom took her pulse. This was quite a ceremony in itself. The doctorsknelt at the bedside, and Her Majesty stretched forth her arm, restingher hand upon a small pillow which was provided for that purpose. Afterthis each doctor wrote out his prescription, all of which were differentfrom each other. We handed them to Her Majesty, who chose the one whichshe thought was the nicest to take, and two attendants and the doctorhimself had to take a dose in her presence before she would touch it. Then she would take it all right. 

During this time it rained a great deal and was very hot. The climate atthis time of the year is very damp, which causes the flies to make theirappearance in millions. If there was one thing more than another thatHer Majesty detested it was these flies. During the actual summer theywere not so troublesome as at this particular time. Of course everyprecaution was taken to keep them away, a eunuch being posted at eachdoor, provided with sort of a switch made of horse hair fastened at theend of a bamboo pole. We were never troubled by mosquitoes, however; infact I never saw a mosquito curtain in the Palace during the whole ofmy stay there. These flies were an abomination, and in spite of all thatcould be done a few would find their way into the rooms. Whenever theyalighted on Her Majesty she would scream, while if by any chance onewere to alight on her food she would order the whole lot to be thrownaway. This would spoil her appetite for the whole day and put her intoa terrible temper as well. Whenever she saw one anywhere near her, shewould order whoever happened to be present to go and catch it. I myselfoften received this order, but I detested them almost as much as HerMajesty did, they were so dirty, and stuck to one's hands whenever theytouched them. 

After her illness Her Majesty was indisposed more or less for quite along time, and doctors were constantly in attendance. She took so manydifferent kinds of medicine that instead of getting better she got worseand eventually contracted a fever. Her Majesty was very much afraid offevers of any kind and we had to stay with her all night and all day andhad to take our meals whenever we could get away from her bedside for afew minutes. Another peculiarity was Her Majesty's aversion for any kindof perfume near her when she was sick, while when she was feeling wellshe was simply smothered in it. The same applied to fresh flowers; inspite of her love for them under ordinary conditions, when she was sickshe could not bear them anywhere near. Her nerves became absolutelyunstrung, as she was unable to sleep during the day, and consequentlythe time passed very slowly to her. In order to make the time passa little less tediously, she gave instructions for one of the bettereducated eunuchs to read to her during the daytime. This readinggenerally consisted of ancient Chinese history, poetry and all kinds ofChinese lore, and while the eunuch was reading to her we had to stand byher bedside, one of us being told off to massage her legs, which seemedto soothe her somewhat. This same program was gone through every dayuntil she was completely herself again--some ten days later. 

One day Her Majesty asked me: "What kind of medicine does a foreigndoctor usually give in case of a fever? I have heard that they make youtake all kinds of pills. This must be very dangerous, as you never knowwhat they are made of. Here in China all medicines are made from roots, and I can always find out whether I am receiving the right medicine, as I have a book which explains what each different medicine is for. Another thing I have heard is that foreign doctors generally operateon you with a knife, while we cure the same sickness by means of ourmedicine. Li Lien Ying told me that one of our little eunuchs had a boilon his wrist and someone advised him to go to the hospital. Of coursethey didn't know what they would do, and the foreign doctor there openedthe boil with a knife, which frightened the child very much. I was verymuch surprised when I heard he was all right again in a couple of days. "Continuing, Her Majesty said: "A year ago one of the foreign ladies cameto the Palace, and hearing me cough a lot, gave me some black pills andtold me to swallow them. I did not like to offend her, so I took thepills and told her I would take them by and bye. However, I was afraidto take them and threw them away. " Of course I answered that I didn'tknow much about medicines, to which she replied that she had seen metake foreign medicines whenever I was not feeling well. She then said:"Of course I know there are people in Peking who do take the medicinesgiven them by foreign doctors and even some of my own relativespatronize these foreigners also. They try not to let me know, but I doknow for all that. In any case, if they choose to kill themselves bytaking these things, it is none of my business; that is the reason why, when they are sick, I never send my own doctors to attend them. "

When Her Majesty had completely recovered from her illness she used togo out on the lake a great deal, sometimes in an open boat and at othertimes in a steam launch. She always appeared to enjoy this kind ofthing. For some reason or other she always insisted on taking the westside of the lake, which was very shallow, and invariably the launchwould get stuck fast in the mud, which seemed to afford Her Majestygreat enjoyment; she simply loved to feel the launch strike the bottom. The open boats would then come alongside and we would have to get outof the launch and enter the boats and proceed to the top of the nearesthill to watch the efforts of the eunuchs trying to refloat the launch. It was a characteristic of Her Majesty to experience a keen sense ofenjoyment at the troubles of other people. The eunuchs knew this quitewell, and whenever opportunity offered, they would do something whichthey thought would amuse Her Majesty. So long as it was nothing of aserious nature Her Majesty would always overlook it, but in case itproved serious or was carelessness, she would always order them to beseverely punished. Thus it was very hard to tell just what to do inorder to please her. 

Another of Her Majesty's peculiarities was inquisitiveness. For example:As I have stated before, it was the custom for Her Majesty to havesweetmeats brought to her before every meal, and after she had finishedwith them, the remainder were distributed among the Court ladies. Whenever it happened that we were very busy, we did not bother with thesweetmeats at all, which Her Majesty very soon found out. One day, aftershe had finished dining, she came and looked through the window to seewhat we were doing, and saw some of the eunuchs eating the sweetmeatswhich she had given to us. She did not say anything, but simply orderedthat the sweetmeats should be brought back again, making us believe thatshe wanted some more herself. I knew that there was something wrong, asshe never ordered them back before. When she saw what was left of them, she asked who had been eating so many, as they were nearly all finished, but she got no reply--we were all too scared. However, after thinkingit over, I came to the conclusion that it would be best to tell her thetruth, for I was quite certain that she knew anyhow. So I told her thatwe had all been very busy and had forgotten all about the sweetmeats, and that the eunuchs had come and taken them themselves, and I addedthat this was not the first time they had done so. I was rather gladthat she had given me this opportunity to report the eunuchs, for HerMajesty replied that if she intended the eunuchs to have sweetmeats, sheherself could give them some, but thought it a lack of appreciationon our part not eating them ourselves after she had been so kind as toprovide them for us. She turned to me, and said: "I am glad that youhave told the truth, as I saw myself what was happening. " She gaveorders that the offending eunuchs should each have three months' wagesdeducted as a punishment, but of course I knew very well they didn'tmind that, as they were making many times the amount of their salary inother ways. On my return to the sitting room, one of the Court ladiessaid: "You should not have told Her Majesty about the eunuchs, they aresure to revenge themselves in some way. " I asked how they could possiblyinjure me in any way, as they were only servants, but she told me thatthey would find some underhand way in which to get even with me, thisbeing their general custom. Of course I knew the eunuchs were a bad lot, but could not see what cause they had to be against me in any way. Iknew they dare not say anything against me to Her Majesty, so I forgotall about the matter. I found out afterwards that one of the tricks theyused to play on any of the Court ladies who offended them was to try andprejudice Her Majesty against us. For instance, if Her Majesty told oneof the eunuchs that a certain thing should be done, instead of tellingme what Her Majesty wanted, the eunuch would go off to one of the otherladies and tell her. In this way Her Majesty would get the impressionthat I was too lazy to wait upon her myself, and of course the otherlady would get all the credit. Although Her Majesty was very kind to me, also the Young Empress, it was very hard to get along with eunuchs, and it was not good policy to offend them in any way. They regardedthemselves as being exclusively the servants of Her Majesty, theEmpress Dowager, and refused to take instructions from anybody else, consequently they were often very rude to the other ladies of the Court, not even excepting the Young Empress. 

Everything proceeded as usual until the eighth moon, when the Emperorwas to sacrifice at the "Temple of the Sun. " On this occasion theEmperor wore a red robe. 

About this time Mrs. Conger asked for a private audience, as shewanted to see Her Majesty and at the same time see how the portrait wasprogressing. Her Majesty replied that she would receive her and gaveorders accordingly. At this private audience Mrs. Conger brought intothe Court two of her relatives to be presented to Her Majesty, besidesMiss Campbell and a missionary lady. As it was a private audience, the guests were conducted to Her Majesty's private Palace. They werereceived in the hall which was being used as studio for this ladyartist, although Her Majesty was out of patience with the portraitpainting, and talked to us a great deal about it, yet when she saw Mrs. Conger and the others she was extremely polite and told them that theportrait was going to be a masterpiece. She was in an unusually goodhumor that day and told me to give orders to the eunuchs to open all thebuildings and show them to her guests. Her Majesty led the way from oneroom to another and showed them her curios in the different rooms, untilshe came to rest in one of the bedrooms, when she ordered chairs to bebrought in for the guests. There were many chairs in this room, but theywere really small thrones of Her Majesty's, although they looked likeany ordinary chairs. The custom is that no matter what kind of a chairit may be, as soon as she uses it, it is at once called her throne andno one is allowed to sit on it thereafter unless the order is given byher. 

During the time the eunuchs were bringing in the chairs kept purposelyfor foreigners to use, one of the ladies of the party made a mistake andsat upon one of Her Majesty's thrones. I noticed her at once, and beforeI had a chance to warn her, Her Majesty made a sign of annoyance to me. I went to this lady at once and told her I wanted to show her somethingand naturally she was obliged to get up. The trouble was this, althoughHer Majesty felt that no one had the right to sit upon her throne, sheexpected me to get this lady off the chair and at the same time not totell her the reason why. While I was busy interpreting for her, she saidin an undertone: "There she is again, sitting on my bed. We hadbetter leave this room. " After this the ladies were conducted to therefreshment room, and when they had partaken of lunch, bade Her Majestygood-bye, leaving Miss Carl with us. As usual we reported to her that wehad seen the guests safely off. She said to me: "That was a funny lady:first she sat upon my throne, and then upon my bed. Perhaps she does notknow what a throne is when she sees one, and yet foreigners laugh atus. I am sure that our manners are far superior to theirs. Anotherthing--did you notice that Mrs. Conger handed a parcel to Miss Carl outin the courtyard when she came in?" I replied that I had noticed herpassing something like a parcel, but could not tell what the parcelcontained. She thereupon told me to go and ask Miss Carl what it was. Atthat time I had received so many peculiar orders from Her Majesty thatI was beginning to get accustomed to them and used my own discretion incarrying out her instructions. Therefore I did not ask Miss Carl, butset about finding out for myself. However, when I began to look aroundfor the parcel, it had mysteriously disappeared and I could not findthe thing anywhere. This naturally worried me, knowing as I did thatHer Majesty liked her instructions carried out quickly. While I wassearching, one of the eunuchs came in and told me that Her Majestywanted to see me, and of course I had to go to her. Before she could sayanything to me, I informed Her Majesty that I had not been able toask Miss Carl about the parcel as she was asleep, but would do soimmediately she got up. Her Majesty said: "I don't want Miss Carl tothink I have told you to ask what the parcel contains, otherwise shemight think I am suspicious of what is going on, so you must manageto get the information somehow without mentioning the matter; you areclever enough to do that much. " Shortly afterwards, while I was walkingalong with Miss Carl to Her Majesty's Palace, to proceed with theportrait, I noticed that she was carrying the parcel in question, whichwas a great relief to me, I can assure you. On arrival at the Palace, Miss Carl said to me: "You need not trouble to pose at present, as it israther dark, and I can be painting the throne; you can look throughthis magazine, if you like, to pass the time away. " So I opened up theparcel, which proved to contain nothing more than an ordinary Americanmonthly magazine. After glancing through the book, I made an excuse tohurry away and inform Her Majesty. However, she had already gone outfor her usual trip on the lake, so I took my chair and followed. When Ireached the lake, Her Majesty, who had seen me, sent a small boat and Iwas rowed out to the launch. Before I could get a chance to speak, HerMajesty said with a smile: "I know all about it, it was a book and MissCarl handed it to you to read. " I was very much disappointed that I hadhad my journey for nothing. I knew that the eunuchs would report it toHer Majesty at the first opportunity, but I hardly expected they wouldhave done so already. Her Majesty was now quite satisfied, and simplyasked whether Miss Carl suspected that she had enquired about thematter. 

As I was about to return to Miss Carl, Her Majesty called me and said:"There is one thing I want to tell you and that is whenever any foreignladies are visiting the Palace, always keep close to the Emperor so thatin the event of their speaking to him you can interpret. " I answeredthat so far whenever any foreigners were present I was present also anddid not think that anybody had held any conversation with the Emperorwhatsoever. She explained that her reason for mentioning this wasthat she wanted me to be just as courteous to the Emperor as I was toherself, and I was to place myself entirely at his disposal whenevervisitors were present. Of course I knew very well that this was notthe true reason at all but that she wanted to take every precautionto preclude the possibility of foreigners influencing the Emperor inmatters of reform, etc. 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN--THE MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL

ON the fifteenth day of the eighth moon came the celebration of theMid-Autumn Festival, sometimes called the Moon Festival. 

This name is derived from the belief which the Chinese hold that themoon is not permanently round when full, but that on this particular dayit is a perfect circle. The ceremony which is gone through is conductedentirely by the Court ladies and consists of worshiping the moon as soonas it appears in the sky. In other respects the celebrations are exactlythe same as in the Dragon Boat Festival, presents were exchanged betweenHer Majesty and the Court officials. The festival concluded with atheatrical performance which describes a scene in the moon. The beliefis that a beautiful maiden lives in the moon, her only companion beinga white rabbit, called a Jade Rabbit. According to the play this rabbitescapes from the moon to the Earth and becomes a young and beautifulgirl. A golden rooster which lives in the sun, becoming aware of therabbit's descent to the earth, himself descends from the sun andchanges into a handsome prince. Of course they very naturally meet andimmediately fall in love. Now, on the earth lived another rabbit--ared one, who, on finding out what was going on, changed himself into aprince also and set about making love to the beautiful maiden with theobject of cutting out the rooster. However, he was seriously handicappedinasmuch as he was unable to change the color of his face, whichremained red, therefore his love making met with no success and therooster prince had it all his own way. At this point, the beautifulmaiden in the moon, on discovering her loss, sent the soldiers of Heavento re-capture her rabbit, with the result that she was taken back tothe moon and the rooster being left alone, had no alternative but toreluctantly return to his home in the sun. 

During this performance the head eunuch brought a young man intothe courtyard, who kowtowed to Her Majesty. This was such an unusualoccurrence that everybody noticed it. I could see that he was a strangerand did not belong to the Court and I wondered who he could be. Atthe other end of the veranda I saw two or three of the Court ladieswhispering together and smiling. They finally came over to me and askedif I knew who he was. I told them that he was a stranger to me andthey ought to know better than I did as they had been at the Court muchlonger. Anyhow I gave it as my opinion that he was decidedly ugly. Thatsame evening Her Majesty asked me whether I had noticed this young man, and told me that he was the son of a very high Manchu official; that hisfather was dead and that he had succeeded to the title and to a largeamount of money. I was surprised that Her Majesty should give such alengthy explanation about this young man, but I told her that I didnot think him very handsome. Her Majesty was talking in a very seriousmanner but I did not think anything of the occurrence at the time but afew days later while I was posing for the portrait I heard Her Majestywhispering to my mother at the other end of the room. I saw that HerMajesty was holding a photograph in her hands which she showed to mymother, at the same time asking whether my mother considered him goodlooking. My mother answered "not very. " On Her Majesty replying thatbeauty was not everything I began to suspect that there was somethinggoing on which directly concerned me. I began to think of some excusein order to get out of what I could plainly see was a proposed marriagebetween myself and this gentleman. I knew that if Her Majesty had madeup her mind that I was to marry him I could not help myself, but, at thesame time, I made up my own mind that rather than marry anyone whom Idid not like, especially one I had never seen before, I would leave theCourt altogether. When Her Majesty retired for her usual afternoon restshe told me she wanted to see me for a moment. After beating about thebush for some time, she asked me whether I would like to stay with heralways or whether I would like to go away again to some foreign country. I at once answered that I was quite satisfied to stay with her as longas she cared to have me but that when she was tired of me she could thensend me away. Her Majesty informed me that it had been her intention tomarry me to this young gentleman and asked my opinion. I told her that Idid not want to get married at all, especially seeing that my father wassick at this time, and leaving home to go to live apart from my familywould break his heart and perhaps be the cause of his premature death. Her Majesty said that was no excuse as I should not have to go out ofChina but would be able to see my father and family any time I wished. I told Her Majesty that I would much rather stay with her altogether andthat I did not want to marry anybody. Her Majesty then said: "I won'tlisten to any excuse. I have already explained everything to yourmother, but much to my surprise she said it would be better to mentionit to you first, on account of your having been brought up differentlyfrom the rest of the Court ladies. Had it not been for this fact I wouldsimply have arranged everything with your mother and the matter wouldhave been settled so far as you were concerned. " I could not sayanything in answer to this, so commenced to cry. I told Her Majesty thatI was not like the rest of the Court ladies who pretended they did notwant to marry, when all the time they were simply looking forward togetting married, if only for the change from the monotony of Court life. I promised that I would stay with her forever, and that I had no desireto go away from China again. I explained that I should not have goneaway at all had it not been that my father was transferred to Paris. HerMajesty said: "Oh, well, I am very glad that you did go away as you aremore useful to me than you would have been had you stayed in China allyour life. " After a lot more discussion Her Majesty said: "Well, I willleave you to think the matter over. If you don't like the young man Ihave chosen there are plenty of others, " which remark did not help mevery much as I could see that she meant to marry me off anyway. However, I had managed to get out of it this time, and thought I would be ableto arrange matters satisfactorily should the question come up again. Nothing further was said about the matter until nearly a month laterwhen I heard that a marriage had been arranged between this gentlemanand the daughter of one of the princes. So everything ended verysatisfactorily from my point of view. 

The twenty-sixth day of the eighth moon was the occasion of anothercelebration. At the time the Manchu Dynasty began, Emperor Shung Chih, who had fought very hard to gain the throne, found himself on thetwenty-sixth day of the eighth moon, absolutely out of provisions ofevery kind and it was necessary for him and his army to live on theleaves of trees, which was the only form of food obtainable at the time. Thus the anniversary of this day, even up to the present time, is alwayscelebrated by the Manchu people, who deny themselves all luxuries, especially at the Court. We did not eat any meat on that day, but onlyrice wrapped in lettuce leaves. Chopsticks were also discarded and thefood was conveyed to the mouth by the hands alone. Even the EmpressDowager was no exception to this rule. This is done in order to remindthe present generation of the privation suffered by their ancestors whoestablished the Manchu Dynasty. 

Towards the close of the eighth moon Her Majesty's gourd plants, whichhad been planted early in the spring, were ripening, and each day shewould take us all to see what progress they were making. She would pickout those which she considered to be the most perfect in form, i. E. , those with the smallest waist and tie ribbons around them so as not tolose sight of them. She pointed to one of these plants one day, and saidto me: "This reminds me of yourself when dressed in foreign clothes. Surely you feel more comfortable in the clothes you are now wearing. "When these gourds were quite ripe they were cut down and Her Majestywould scrape the outer skin with a bamboo knife, afterwards wiping thefruit with a wet cloth. They were then allowed to dry and after afew days they would assume a brownish color, when they were ready forhanging as ornaments in the Summer Palace. In one room alone there wereover 10, 000 of these gourds, of different shapes. It was the duty of theCourt ladies to periodically wipe these gourds with a cloth, in order togive them a shiny appearance, and also to scrape any new ones which werepulled and prepare them for the Palace. None of us cared very muchabout this work excepting Her Majesty. One day whilst attending to thesegourds I happened to knock the top off one of the old ones which was HerMajesty's particular favorite. I dared not go and tell Her Majesty whathad happened and one of the Court ladies suggested throwing the thingaway altogether and saying nothing about it as Her Majesty would notbe likely to find it out, having so many of them. However, I finallydecided to go and tell Her Majesty about it, and take punishment ifnecessary. For a wonder Her Majesty did not make much bother about it. She said: "Well it was quite an old one in any case and the top wasready to drop off at any time; it so happens that you were the one towipe it, and of course it came off. It can't be helped. " I told HerMajesty that I was very much ashamed at being so careless, especially asI knew it was one of her favorites, and there the matter ended. All therest of the Court ladies were in the waiting room and were anxious toknow how I would get out of it, and when I told them they said that hadit been any of them there would have been a fine row. They laughed, and said it must be nice to be a favorite which made me feel veryuncomfortable. I told the Young Empress exactly what had happened, andshe said I was quite right to tell Her Majesty the truth and told me tobe very careful as there was much jealousy going on. 

At the beginning of the ninth moon the chrysanthemums commence to budand it was the duty of the ladies of the Court to go and trim them eachday by cutting away all the buds except one on each stalk. This trimminggives the flower a better chance of developing, a much larger blossombeing the result. Even Her Majesty would help with this work. She wasvery particular about these plants, and would not allow any of us tomeddle with them if our hands were not perfectly cool, as to touch themwith hot hands would cause the leaves to shrivel up. These flowers aregenerally in full bloom about the end of the ninth moon or beginning ofthe tenth moon. Her Majesty had a wonderful gift of being able to tellwhat kind of flower would bloom from each separate plant, even beforethe buds appeared. She would say: "This is going to be a red flower, "and we would place a bamboo stick in the flower pot, with the namewritten on it. Then another, Her Majesty would declare to be a white oneand we would place a similar bamboo stick in the flower pot, with thedescription, and so on. Her Majesty said: "This is your first year atthe Palace and no doubt you are surprised at what you have just seen andheard me say, but I have never yet made a mistake. For you will see whenthe flowers commence to bloom. " It was a fact as everything turned outexactly as she had predicted. None of us ever knew how she was able todistinguish one from the other, but she was always right. I did once askher to explain how she was able to tell but she answered that it was asecret. 

All this time the portrait was proceeding very slowly and one day HerMajesty asked me how long I thought it would be before it was finishedand what the custom in Europe was as regards remuneration for such aportrait. I replied that it was customary to pay very handsomely, butshe would not hear of such a suggestion, saying that in China it was notthe custom and that it would be regarded as an insult to offer money forsuch a service. She suggested decorating Miss Carl as a reward for herservices, which she considered would be appreciated far more thana money present. There was nothing for me to say at this time but Idetermined to mention the matter again when a favorable opportunityoccurred. 

During the ninth moon a Russian circus visited Peking and of courseeverybody talked of little else. Her Majesty, hearing so much talk aboutthis circus asked what it was like, and after we had explained to her, she became very interested and said that she would like to see it. Mymother thought it would be a good idea to have the circus brought up tothe Summer Palace, where they could perform, so she asked Her Majestywhether this might be done. Her Majesty was delighted with the idea, andarrangements were accordingly made for the performance. While everythingwas being fixed, the people belonging to the circus, and the animals, were quartered near our own house and we had to feed them at our ownexpense. However, we wanted to show Her Majesty what a circus was likeso the expense did not matter. It took them two days to erect the tentand make all necessary preparations, and during this time Her Majestyreceived reports as to what was being done, and the progress they weremaking. 

The day before the performance, we noticed that Her Majesty, on comingfrom her audience, looked very angry, and on our enquiring what was thematter she informed my mother and myself that some censors had raisedobjections against having this circus in the Palace grounds, as therehad never been anything of this kind allowed before and they had beggedHer Majesty to give up the idea. Her Majesty was very angry, and said:"You see how much power I have here; I cannot even have a circus withoutsomebody raising objections. I think we had better pay them somethingand let them go away. " Of course we agreed to anything she thought best. After considering for a time Her Majesty jumped up and said: "They havethe tent up already; they will talk just the same whether we have thecircus or not; I will have it anyway. " So the performance duly tookplace and Her Majesty and all the Court were delighted. One itemconsisted of a young girl walking and dancing on a large globe. Thisespecially pleased Her Majesty and she insisted on the performance beingrepeated several times. Another item of interest was the trapeze act. Ofcourse nobody present with the exception of my mother, sister and myselfhad ever seen a circus performance before, and Her Majesty was verymuch afraid that the man would fall from the trapeze and kill himself. Another thing which interested Her Majesty was the bare-back riding, which she thought simply wonderful. The only objection to the whole showwhich she raised was when it was suggested to bring in the lions andtigers, etc. She said it was not safe to bring wild beasts into thePalace and that she would rather not see this part of the performance. The proprietor of the circus, however, brought in a small baby elephantwhich performed several clever tricks. This delighted Her Majesty morethan anything else and when the proprietor saw how pleased she was heoffered the elephant as a present, which she accepted. However, afterthe performance was over we tried to make him go through his tricksagain but he would not budge an inch, so we had to give it up as abad job and send him away to be placed along with the other elephantsbelonging to the Palace. 

Altogether there were three performances given by the circus, and beforethe final performance, the circus Manager told me that he would verymuch like to show the lions and tigers: there was no chance of anyaccident and it really would be worth seeing. So after a lot ofdiscussion Her Majesty finally consented to allow them to be broughtin but on the distinct understanding that they should not be let out oftheir cages. 

When they were brought in the ring all the eunuchs gathered around HerMajesty, and after remaining in the ring for a few minutes Her Majestyordered them to be taken away again. She said: "I am not afraid formyself, but they might get loose and hurt some of the people. " This itemfinished the whole of the performance and the circus departed richer bysome Taels 10, 000 which Her Majesty had ordered to be given to them. 

For the next couple of days we discussed the merits of the circus butafterwards, Her Majesty, when referring to the subject, expressed greatdisappointment with the whole thing. She said she had expectedsomething entirely different and far more wonderful. This was anothercharacteristic of Her Majesty; nothing pleased her for more thanfive minutes at a time. She said to me: "I don't see anything at allwonderful in foreign accomplishments. Take for instance this portraitwhich this lady is painting. I don't think it is going to be at all agood picture, it seems so rough. (Her Majesty did not understand oilpainting). Then again why should she always want to have the thingsbefore her while painting them. An ordinary Chinese artist could paintmy dress, shoes, etc. , after seeing the things once. She cannot be verymuch of an artist in my opinion, though you need not tell her that Isaid so. " Continuing, Her Majesty said: "By the way, what do you talkabout when you are posing for this portrait of mine; although I don'tunderstand what she is saying, still I can see she has a lot to say. Besure not to tell her anything connected with the Court life and do notteach her any Chinese. I hear that she often asks what different thingsare called in Chinese, but don't tell her. The less she knows the betterfor us. I can see that she has seen nothing of our ordinary Courtlife, as yet. I wonder what she would say if she were to see one of theeunuchs being punished, or anything like that. She would think that wewere savages, I suppose. I noticed the other day, when I was angry, thatyou took this lady artist away. This was very wise of you; it isbetter that she should not see me in a temper, she might talk aboutit afterwards. I wish this portrait was finished. The cool weather iscoming on and we have to open up the boxes and get our winter clothesready. You girls need winter clothes I know as you have none but foreigndresses. Then, again, my birthday is next month and there will be theusual celebrations. After that we return to the Sea Palace, and what canwe do with this artist? I suppose she will have to go back and stay atthe American Legation and come to the Sea Palace each day until the workis finished. This will be a lot of trouble as it is not ten minutes'drive as at present, but nearer an hour's drive. And even if this can besatisfactorily arranged, what about the Winter Palace in the ForbiddenCity? Try and get to know how long she expects to be before it isfinished. " This gave me an opportunity to tell Her Majesty that MissCarl was just as anxious to get the work finished as she was to have itfinished, but explained that Miss Carl had very little time to paint asHer Majesty could spare very little time to give personal sittings, andagain, when Her Majesty went to lie down each afternoon, Miss Carl hadto stop painting as she was working in the next room to Her Majesty'sbedroom. Her Majesty replied: "Well, if she expects me to sit for herall day long I will give up the whole thing at once, " and then added: "Ithink you yourself are getting tired of sitting, and want me to take itup again, but I have already had quite enough of it. " Of course, I toldher that instead of being tired of it, I enjoyed sitting on Her Throne, which I regarded as a great honor. I explained to Her Majesty that MissCarl did not like me to pose in her place, as she could not get alongso quickly as if she were to sit herself; but she simply said that I wasacting under her commands, and that should be sufficient for me. 

For the next ten days we were kept very busy selecting materials forwinter clothing and also official robes for my sister and myself to beworn during the forthcoming birthday celebrations. These dresses werefull winter Court dresses, of red satin embroidered with golden dragonsand blue clouds, and were trimmed with gold braid and lined with greysquirrel. The cuffs and collars (which were turned down) were of sable. While Her Majesty was giving one of the eunuchs instructions as to howthese were to be made, the Young Empress beckoned to me, and I went out. She said: "You go and kowtow to Her Majesty as it is a great favor forher to give you a dress trimmed with sable. This is usually only wornby a Princess. " So when I returned to the room I availed myself of thefirst opportunity to kowtow and thank Her Majesty for the great favorshe had granted me. She answered: "You deserve it, and I see noreason why you should not be treated as a Princess anyway; many of thePrincesses are not of the Imperial family. Any title may be bestowed forspecial services rendered to the country and you have been of more helpto me than any other Court lady I have ever had, and I can see that youare faithful in the discharge of your duties. You may think I do notnotice these things, but I do. You are certainly entitled to beranked as a Princess, and in fact I never treat you different from thePrincesses, but rather better in many ways. " Turning to a eunuch shesaid: "Bring my fur cap here. " This cap was made of sable, trimmedwith pearls and jade and Her Majesty explained that our caps would besomething after the same style except that the crown, instead ofbeing yellow as in the case of Her Majesty's cap, would be red. I wasnaturally delighted. In addition to the cap and full Court dress HerMajesty had two ordinary dresses made for everyday wear, one lined withsheepskin and the other lined with grey squirrel. Then she gave us fourother dresses of finer material, lined with black and white fox skin, and all trimmed with gold braid and embroidered ribbons. In additionthere were two other dresses, one of a pale pink color, embroidered withone hundred butterflies and the other of a reddish color embroideredwith green bamboo leaves. Several short jackets, also lined with fur, were also included in Her Majesty's present, and several sleevelessjackets went to complete the lot. 

On coming out of the room, one of the Court ladies remarked that I wasvery lucky to receive so many clothes from Her Majesty and said thatshe had never received so many during the whole time she had been atthe Palace--nearly ten years. I could see she was jealous. The youngEmpress, overhearing this conversation, joined us and told her that whenI arrived at the Palace I had nothing but foreign clothes and how wasI to manage if Her Majesty did not get me the proper dresses. Thisincident was the beginning of another unpleasant time for me with theladies of the Court. At first I took no notice until one day one of thegirls attached to the Palace joined in the unkind remarks. She said thatbefore my arrival she had been Her Majesty's particular favorite, butI gave her to understand that she had no right to discuss me in anyway whatsoever. The Young Empress, who was present, spoke to them abouttheir treatment of me and said that some fine day I would be tellingHer Majesty about it. This seemed to have a good effect for they nevertroubled me much afterwards with their talk. 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN--THE SUMMER PALACE

JUST about the end of the ninth moon Her Majesty began to tire of doingnothing day after day, and said: "What is the use of waiting until thefirst of the month to have the theatrical performance? Let us have aperformance to-morrow. " So she gave instructions for the eunuchs toprepare for the play, which should be staged without the assistance ofany outside actors. I might here mention that certain of the eunuchswere specially trained as actors and used to study their parts everyday. Indeed, they were far cleverer than the professionals from outside. 

Her Majesty gave the head eunuch the list of the plays she wished to beperformed, which were for the most part dramatised fairy tales, and wehad a performance the next day. 

After Her Majesty had gone to rest in the afternoon, during thetheatrical performance I met the Emperor returning to his own Palace. I was surprised to see only one eunuch in attendance. This was theEmperor's own private eunuch and he trusted him implicitly. He asked mewhere I was going and I told him I was going to my room to rest a while. He remarked that he had not seen me for quite a long time, which made melaugh as I saw him every morning at the audience. He said: "I don'tget as much chance of chatting with you as formerly since this portraitpainting began. I am afraid I am not making much progress with myEnglish as I have nobody to help me now that your time is occupied withthis lady artist. You appear to enjoy her company very much. All thesame I suppose it is very monotonous. Has she found out yet that youare there simply to keep an eye upon her?" I told him that I was verycareful not to betray myself in any way and that I did not think shesuspected she was being watched. 

The Emperor then said: "I understand there is a rumor to the effect thatwhen this lady has finished Her Majesty's portrait she is going to paintmine. I should very much like to know who says so. " I told him this wasthe first I had heard about it so could not say. I asked him whether hewould like to have his portrait painted but he only answered: "That israther a difficult question for me to answer. You know best whether Iought to have it painted or not. 

"I see Her Majesty having so many photographs taken and even the eunuchsare in the picture. " I understood at once what he meant, so I asked himif he wished me to take him with my little kodak. He looked surprisedand asked: "Can you take pictures, too? If it is not too risky for us, we might try it some day when we have an opportunity. Don't forget, butI think we must be very careful. "

He then changed the conversation by saying: "Well, now that we havetime to talk I want to ask you a question and I expect you to answerme truly. What is the general opinion amongst the foreigners regardingmyself? Do they consider me a man of character and do they think meclever? I am very anxious to know. " Before I could say anything inanswer to this question he continued: "I know very well that they regardme as nothing more than a boy, and as being of no consequence at all. Tell me, is not this so?" I replied that many foreigners had askedme about him--as to what kind of man he was, but that they had neverexpressed any opinion of their own regarding him excepting that theyunderstood he was in the best of health. "If any wrong impression doesexist regarding myself and my position at the Court, " continued theEmperor, "it is owing to the very conservative customs of the ChineseCourt. I am not expected to either say or do anything on my owninitiative, consequently outsiders never hear much about me and I amregarded as being nothing more than a figure-head. I know this isso. Whenever they ask you about me in the future just explain to themexactly what my position here is. I have plenty of ideas regarding thedevelopment of this country but you know I am not able to carry them outas I am not my own master. I don't think the Empress Dowager herselfhas sufficient power to alter the state of things existing in China atpresent, and even if she has, she is not willing to. I am afraid it willbe a long time before anything can be done towards reform. "

The Emperor went on to say how nice it would be if he were allowed totravel about from place to place the same as the European monarchs, butof course such a thing was out of the question for him. I told himthat several Princesses had expressed a wish to visit the St. LouisExposition and said I thought it would be a good thing if that could bearranged as they would see for themselves the difference between theirown country and customs and foreign countries and customs. The Emperorexpressed doubts as to this permission being granted as such a thing hadnever been heard of before. 

We talked for quite a long time, mostly about foreign customs, and theEmperor remarked that he would very much like to visit Europe and seefor himself how things were carried on there. 

Just then one of my eunuchs came and said that Her Majesty was awake, soI had to hurry off to her room. 

We now arrive at the tenth moon. 

The first day it snowed, and the head eunuch enquired of Her Majestywhether it was her intention to celebrate her birthday at the SummerPalace as usual. As previously explained the Summer Palace was HerMajesty's favorite place of abode; so she replied in the affirmative andarrangements were accordingly made for the celebration to be held thereas usual. The head eunuch then brought Her Majesty a list giving thenames and ranks of all the Princesses and the names of the wives anddaughters of the Manchu officials, and she selected those whom shewished to be present at the celebrations. On this occasion she selectedforty-five ladies, who were duly informed that she desired theirpresence at the Palace. I was standing behind Her Majesty's chair allthis time, and she turned and said: "Usually I do not ask many people tomy birthday celebrations, but on this occasion I have made an exceptionas I want you to see the way they dress and how ignorant they are ofCourt etiquette. "

The celebrations commenced on the sixth day of the tenth moon. MissCarl, having returned to the American Legation in Peking for the timebeing, my mother, my sister and myself went back to the Palace again. Early on the morning of the sixth, the eunuchs decorated the verandaswith different colored silks and hung lanterns all over the place andamongst the trees. At about seven o'clock in the morning the visitorsbegan to arrive and I quite agreed with what Her Majesty had told meabout them. The eunuchs introduced them to all the Court ladies, butthey seemed to have very little to say, appearing very shy. They werethen conducted to the waiting room, but there were so many of them thatwe Court ladies had to stand outside on the veranda. Some of them werevery expensively dressed, but their colors were, for the most part, veryold fashioned, and their manners very awkward. We watched them for quitea while and then went off to report to Her Majesty. 

On such occasions as this Her Majesty was generally in pretty goodspirits. She commenced asking us a lot of questions. Amongst otherthings she asked whether we had noticed an elderly lady among thevisitors, dressed as a bride. She explained that this lady was the onlyManchu lady present who was married to a Chinese official, and had beeninvited because of her previous connection with the Court. Her Majestysaid she had never seen her herself, but understood that she was avery clever woman. We had not noticed such a person, and suggested thatperhaps she had not yet arrived. 

Her Majesty dressed very quickly, and as soon as she was ready shecame into the hall, where the head eunuch brought in the visitors andpresented them to Her Majesty. We Court ladies were all standing ina row behind the Throne. As they came in, some kowtowed; otherscourtesied, while others did not do anything at all, in fact nobodyappeared to know what to do with herself. Her Majesty spoke a few wordsof welcome and thanked them for the presents they had sent her. 

I would like to say here that, contrary to the general idea whichexists, Her Majesty always expressed her thanks for any present orservice rendered, no matter how insignificant. 

Her Majesty could see plainly that everybody was embarrassed and orderedthe head eunuch to show them to their respective rooms, and told themto make themselves at home and to go and take a rest. They hesitated amoment, not knowing whether to go or not, until Her Majesty said to us:"Take them and present them to the Young Empress. "

When we arrived at the Palace of the Young Empress they were dulypresented and were not nearly so shy as before. The Young Empressinformed them that in case they desired to know anything or to be putright on any point of Court etiquette, the Court ladies would be pleasedto give them all necessary information and she decided that the best waywould be for each Court lady to have charge of so many of the visitors, as it would not be nice to have any mistakes occur during the ceremony, on the tenth. So we each were allotted so many guests and had to lookafter them and instruct them how to act on the different occasions. 

During Her Majesty's afternoon rest I paid a visit to the guests I wasto take charge of. Among them was the bride referred to by HerMajesty. So I went and made myself agreeable to her and found her veryinteresting. She had evidently received a good education, unlike themajority of Manchu ladies, as I found she could read and write Chineseexceptionally well. I then explained to all of them what they would haveto do, and how to address Her Majesty, should it be necessary to doso. I don't know whether I have mentioned it previously, but wheneveranybody spoke to Her Majesty, they always addressed her as "GreatAncestor, " and when referring to themselves, instead of the pronoun "I, "they would say "Your slave. " In all Manchu families a similar rule isobserved, the pronouns "You" and "I" being dispensed with and the titles"Mother" and "Father" and the son's or daughter's first name beingsubstituted. 

Her Majesty was very particular about this rule being strictly observed. 

For the next four days, until the day of the ceremony, these visitorspassed their time in learning the Court etiquette and going to thetheatre. 

Every morning, as usual, we waited on Her Majesty and reported anythingof interest which had occurred during the previous day. Then we allpreceded Her Majesty to the theatre, where we awaited her arrivalstanding in the courtyard. On Her Majesty appearing, we would all kneeldown until she had passed into the building opposite the stage, kneelingin rows--first the Emperor, behind him the Young Princess, next theSecondary wife, then the Princesses and Court ladies, and last of allthe visitors. The first two days everything went of all right, buton the third morning the Emperor, from whom we received the signal, suddenly turned and said: "Her Majesty is coming. " Down we all went onour knees, the Emperor alone remaining standing and laughing at us. Of course there was no sign of Her Majesty and everybody joined in thelaugh. He was never so happy as when he could work off a joke like this. 

On the evening of the ninth, none of the Court ladies went to bed, as weall had to be up betimes on the morning of the tenth. The visitors weretold to proceed by chair to Her Majesty's special Audience Hall on thetop of the hill, where they were to await our arrival. They arrived atthe Audience Hall at three o'clock in the morning, and we followedsoon afterwards, arriving there about daybreak. By and bye Her Majestyarrived and the ceremony commenced. This ceremony in no way differedfrom the one previously described in connection with the Emperor'sbirthday, so there is no need to give particulars, except one thing. Very early on the morning of the tenth, we had to bring another presentto her and each of us brought a hundred birds of various kinds. Eachyear, on her birthday, Her Majesty did a very peculiar thing. She wouldbuy 10, 000 birds with her own money, from her private purse and set themfree. It was a very pretty sight to see those huge cages hung in thecourtyard of the Audience Hall. Her Majesty would select the most luckyhour and order the eunuchs to carry the cages and to follow her. Thehour selected was four o'clock in the afternoon. Her Majesty took thewhole Court with her to the top of the hill, where there was a Temple. First she burnt sandal wood and offered up prayers to the Gods, then theeunuchs, each with a cage of birds, knelt in front of Her Majesty andshe opened each cage one after another and watched the birds fly away, and prayed to the Gods that these birds should not be caught again. Her Majesty did this very seriously and we asked each other in whisperswhich bird we thought was the prettiest and would like to keep it forourselves. Among this lot there were a few parrots. Some were pink;others were red and green; all were chained on stands, and when theeunuchs broke the chains, the parrots would not move. Her Majesty said:"How funny; each year a few parrots will not go away at all and I havekept them until they died. Look at them now. They won't go away. "By this time the head eunuch arrived. Her Majesty told him what hadhappened and he immediately knelt down and said: "Your Majesty's greatluck. These parrots understand Your Majesty's kindness and would ratherstay here and serve Your Majesty. " This ceremony is called "Fang Sheng. "It is considered a very meritorious action and will not fail of rewardin Heaven. 

One of the Court ladies asked me what I thought of the parrots thatwould not fly away, and I told her that it was really very strange. Shesaid: "It is very simple and not strange at all. These eunuchs, orderedby the head one, have bought these parrots long ago and trained them. During Her Majesty's afternoon rest, these parrots were brought to thetop of the very same hill every day to accustom them to the place. Theobject of this is just to please and otherwise fool Her Majesty, to makeher feel happy and believe that she is so merciful that even such dumbthings would rather stay with her. " Continuing, she said: "The huge jokeis this: while Her Majesty is letting the birds free, there are a feweunuchs waiting at the rear of the hill to capture them and sell themagain, and so, no matter how Her Majesty prays for their freedom, theywill be caught at once. "

The celebrations were continued until the thirteenth day. Nobody did anywork and all was gaiety and enjoyment, the theatre being open every day. Towards the close of the thirteenth day the visitors were informed thatthe celebrations were at an end and they made arrangements to leaveearly the next morning. They all bade Her Majesty good-bye that eveningand departed early the following day. 

For the next few days we were all busy preparing for removing to the SeaPalace. Her Majesty consulted her book and finally selected the 22d asbeing the most favorable day for this removal. So at six o'clock onthe morning of the 22d the whole Court left the Summer Palace. It wassnowing very heavily and the journey was only accomplished with greatdifficulty. Of course we were all in chairs, as usual, and the eunuchswho were not employed as chair-bearers rode horseback. Many ofthe horses fell on the slippery stones and one of Her Majesty'schair-bearers also slipped and brought Her Majesty to the ground. All ofa sudden I thought something dreadful had happened, horses galloping andeunuchs howling: "Stop! Stop!!" I heard someone saying: "See if she isstill alive. " The whole procession stopped and blocked the way. Thishappened on the stone road just before entering the Western Gate. Finally we saw that Her Majesty's chair was resting on the ground, sowe all alighted and went forward to see what had happened. A great manypeople were talking excitedly all at the same time, and for a moment Iwas rather frightened (for just about that time we heard a rumor thatsome of the revolutionists were going to take the life of the wholeCourt, and, although we heard that, we did not dare tell Her Majesty), so I immediately went to her chair and found her sitting therecomposedly giving orders to the chief eunuch not to punish thischair-bearer, for he was not to blame, the stones being wet and veryslippery. Li Lien Ying said that would never do, for this chair-bearermust have been careless, and how dare he carry the Old Buddha in thiscareless way. After saying this, he turned his head to the beaters(these beaters, carrying bamboo sticks, went everywhere with the Court, for such occasions as this) and said: "Give him eighty blows on hisback. " This poor victim, who was kneeling on the muddy ground, heard theorder. The beaters took him about a hundred yards away from us, pushedhim down and started to do their duty. It did not take very long togive the eighty blows and, much to my surprise, this man got up, afterreceiving the punishment, as if nothing had happened to him. He lookedjust as calm as could be. While we were waiting a eunuch handed me a cupof tea, which I presented to Her Majesty, and asked her if she washurt. She smiled and said it was nothing, ordering us to proceed on ourjourney. I must explain about this tea; the eunuchs had it preparedall the time and always carried a little stove along with hot water. Although this went every time when the Court moved, it was seldom used. 

As usual, all the Court ladies take a short cut to the Palace, so as tobe ready to receive Her Majesty, when she arrived. After waiting in thecourtyard for quite a long time, during which we were nearly frozen, Her Majesty arrived, and we all knelt until she had passed, and thenfollowed her into the Palace. Her Majesty also complained of the coldand ordered that fires should be brought into the hall. These fires werebuilt in brass portable stoves lined with clay, and were lighted outsideand brought into the hall after the smoke had passed off somewhat. Therewere four stoves in all. All the windows and doors were closed, therebeing no ventilation of any description, and very soon I began to feelsick. However, I went on with my work getting Her Majesty's things inorder until I must have fainted, for the next thing I remembered waswaking up in a strange bed and inquiring where I was, but on hearing HerMajesty giving orders in the next room, I knew it was all right. One ofthe Court ladies brought me a cup of turnip juice which Her Majesty saidI was to drink. I drank it and felt much better. I was informed that HerMajesty had gone to rest, and so I went off to sleep again myself. WhenI awoke, Her Majesty was standing by my bedside. I tried to get up, butfound that I was too weak, so Her Majesty told me to lie still and keepquiet and I would soon be all right again. She said that I had betterhave a room close to her bedroom, and gave instructions for the eunuchsto remove me there as soon as it was prepared. Every few minutes HerMajesty would send to inquire how I was progressing and whether I wantedanything to eat. It was the custom to stand up whenever receiving amessage from Her Majesty, but it was out of the question for me to doso, although I tried, with the result that I made myself worse thanever. 

Towards evening the head eunuch came to see me and brought severalplates of sweetmeats. He was very nice, and told me that I was veryfortunate, as Her Majesty very rarely bothered herself about any ofthe Court ladies and that evidently she had taken a fancy to me. He sattalking for some little time, and told me to eat some of the sweetmeats. Of course I was not able to eat anything at all, let alone sweetmeats, so I told him to leave them and I would eat them later. Before leavinghe said that in case I wanted anything I was to let him know. This visitwas a great surprise to me, as usually he took very little notice ofany of us, but I was told afterwards that the reason he was so nice wasbecause Her Majesty showed such an interest in me. 

The next morning I was able to get up and resume my duties. I went into see Her Majesty and kowtowed to her, thanking her for her kindnessduring my indisposition. Her Majesty said that the head eunuch had toldher the previous evening that I was much better and that she was glad Iwas up and about again. She said it was nothing serious, simply that Iwas unaccustomed to the fumes from the fires, which had gone to my head. 

As the snow had stopped falling, Her Majesty decided that the next daywe would go and choose a place for Miss Carl to continue the painting. I suggested that perhaps it would be better if we waited until Miss Carlarrived herself, so that she could choose a suitable place for her work, but Her Majesty said that would not do at all, because if it were leftto Miss Carl, doubtless she would choose some impossible place. Ofcourse there were many parts of the Palace which were kept quite privateand Miss Carl would not be allowed to go there. So the next dayHer Majesty and myself set out to find a place. After visiting manydifferent rooms, all of which were too dark, we finally fixed on aroom on the lake side of the Palace. Her Majesty said: "This is veryconvenient, as you can go to and fro either by chair or by water. " Ifound that it took about three-quarters of an hour by chair to get tothe Palace Gate, and rather less than that by boat. I was expectingto return to stay at the Palace with Her Majesty, but it was finallydecided that this would not do, as it would not be policy to allow MissCarl, who was staying at the American Legation, to go in and out of thePalace Gate alone, so Her Majesty said it would be better for me to stayat my father's place in the city and bring Miss Carl to the Palaceeach morning, returning with her in the evening. This was anything butpleasant, but I had no other alternative than to obey Her Majesty'sinstructions. 

When Miss Carl arrived at the Palace the next day and saw the room whichhad been selected for her to work in, she was not at all pleased. In thefirst place she said it was too dark, so Her Majesty ordered the paperwindows to be replaced by glass. This made the room too bright, and MissCarl asked for some curtains so as to focus the light on the picture. When I informed Her Majesty of this request, she said: "Well, this isthe first time I have ever changed anything in the Palace except to suitmyself. First I alter the windows, and she is not satisfied, but musthave curtains. I think we had better take the roof off, then perhapsshe may be suited. " However, we fixed up the curtains to Miss Carl'ssatisfaction. 

When Her Majesty examined the portrait to see how it was progressing, she said to me: "After all the trouble we have had over this picture, Iam afraid it is not going to be anything very wonderful. I notice thatthe pearls in my cape are painted in different colors; some look white, some pink, while others are green. You tell her about it. " I tried toexplain to Her Majesty that Miss Carl had simply painted the pearlsas she saw them, according to the different shades of light, but HerMajesty could not understand that at all and asked if I could seeanything green about them, or pink either. I again explained that thiswas simply the tints caused by the light falling on the pearls, but shereplied that she could not see any shade except white. However, after awhile she did not seem to trouble any further about the matter. 

Situated in a room near Her Majesty's bedroom in the Sea Palace wasa Pagoda, about ten feet in height, made of carved sandalwood. Thiscontained various images of Buddha, which Her Majesty used to worshipevery morning. The ceremony consisted of Her Majesty burning incensebefore the Pagoda, while a Court lady was told off each day to kowtowbefore the images. Her Majesty told me that this Pagoda had been in thePalace for more than a hundred years. Among the different images was onerepresenting the Goddess of Mercy. This image was only about five inchesin height and was made of pure gold. The inside was hollow and containedall the principal anatomical parts of the human body, made out of jadeand pearls. This Goddess of Mercy was supposed to possess wonderfulpowers and Her Majesty often worshiped before it when in any trouble, and maintained that on many occasions her prayers had been answered. Shesaid: "Of course, when I pray to the image, I pray earnestly, not thesame as you girls, who simply kowtow because it is your duty and thenget away as quickly as possible. " Her Majesty went on to say that shewas quite aware that many of the people in China were discarding thereligion of their ancestors in favor of Christianity, and that she wasvery much grieved that this was so. 

Her Majesty was a firm believer in the old Chinese superstitionsconnected with the Sea Palace, and during one of our conversations shetold me I was not to be surprised at anything I saw. She said it wasquite a common occurrence for a person walking beside you to suddenlydisappear altogether, and explained that they were simply foxes who tookhuman shape to suit their purpose. They had probably lived in the SeaPalace for thousands of years and possessed this power of changing theirform at will. She said that no doubt the eunuchs would tell me they werespirits or ghosts, but that was not true: they were sacred foxes andwould harm nobody. As if to confirm this superstition, one evening, afew days later, my fire having gone out, I sent my eunuch to see if anyof the other Court ladies were awake, and if so, to try to get mesome hot water. He went out taking his lantern along with him, but hereturned almost immediately with a face as white as chalk. On inquiringwhat was the matter, he replied: "I have seen a ghost: a woman, who cameup to me, blew the light out and disappeared. " I told him that perhapsit was one of the servant girls, but he said "No"; he knew all the womenattached to the Palace and he had never seen this one before. He stuckto it that it was a ghost. I told him that Her Majesty had said therewere no ghosts, but that it might be a fox which had taken human shape. He replied: "It was not a fox. Her Majesty calls them foxes, because sheis afraid to call them ghosts. " He went on to tell me that many yearspreviously the head eunuch, Li Lien Ying, while walking in the courtyardback of Her Majesty's Palace, saw a young servant girl sitting on theedge of the well. He went over to ask her what she was doing there, buton getting closer he found that there were several other girls therealso, and on seeing him approach, they all deliberately jumped downthe well. He immediately raised the alarm, and on one of the attendantscoming forward with a lantern, he explained what had occurred. Theattendant showed him that it was impossible for anybody to jump into thewell, as it was covered with a large stone. My eunuch said that a longtime before this several girls did actually commit suicide by jumpingdown this well, and that what Li Lien Ying had seen were the ghosts ofthese girls, and nothing more. It is believed by the Chinese that whena person commits suicide their spirit remains in the neighborhood untilsuch time as they can entice somebody else to commit suicide, when theyare free to go to another world, and not before. I told him that Idid not believe such things and that I would very much like to see formyself. He replied: "You will only want to see it once; that will besufficient. "

Things went along in the usual way until the first day of the eleventhmoon, when Her Majesty issued orders to the Court that as the eleventhmoon contained so many anniversaries of the deaths of previous rulersof China, the usual theatrical performance would be eliminated and theCourt dress would in addition be modified to suit the occasion. On theninth day the Emperor was to go and worship at the Temple of Heaven. So, as was customary on all these occasions, he confined himself to his ownprivate apartments for three days before the ninth, during which timehe held no communication whatsoever with anybody excepting his privateeunuchs. Not even the Young Empress, his wife, was allowed to see himduring these three days. 

This ceremony did not differ very materially from the other sacrifices, except that pigs were killed and placed on the numerous altars ofthe Temple, where they remained for a time, after which they weredistributed among the different officials. The eating of the flesh ofthese pigs, which had been blessed, was believed to bring good luck andprosperity, and the officials who were presented with them consideredthemselves greatly favored by Her Majesty. Another difference was thatthe Emperor could not appoint a substitute to officiate for him; butmust attend in person, no matter what the circumstances might be. Thereason for this was, that according to the ancient law, the Emperorsigns the death warrant of every person sentenced to death, record ofwhich is kept in the Board of Punishments. At the end of the year thename of each person executed is written on a piece of yellow paper andsent to the Emperor. When the time for worshiping at the Temple arrives, he takes this yellow paper and burns it in order that the ashes maygo up to Heaven and his ancestors know that he has been fearless andfaithful, and has done his duty according to the law. 

As this ceremony of worshiping at the Temple of Heaven was to take placein the Forbidden City, in spite of Her Majesty's dislike to the place, she commanded that the whole of the Court be transferred there, her reason for this being that she did not wish to be away from theEmperor's side even for an hour. So we all moved to the Palace in theForbidden City. After the ceremony was over, the Court was to returnto the Sea Palace, but as the thirteenth day was the anniversary of thedeath of the Emperor Kang Hsi, it was decided that we should remain inthe Forbidden City, where the ceremony was to be held. The Emperor KangHsi ruled over the Chinese Empire for sixty-one years, the longest reignof any Chinese Ruler up to the present time, and Her Majesty told usthat he was the most wonderful Emperor China had ever had and that wemust respect his memory accordingly. 

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN--THE AUDIENCE HALL

ON the fourteenth day of the eleventh moon, after the morning audience, Her Majesty informed us that there was a likelihood of war breakingout between Russia and Japan and that she was very much troubled, asalthough it actually had nothing whatever to do with China, she wasafraid they would fight on Chinese territory and that in the long runChina would suffer in some way or other. Of course we did not botherourselves about it much at the moment, but the next morning the headeunuch reported to Her Majesty that fifty eunuchs were missing. As therewas no apparent reason for this, everybody was much excited. Therewas no rule against any of the eunuchs going into the city after theirduties were ended, providing they returned before the Palace Gate wasclosed, but when on the following morning it was reported that anotherhundred eunuchs had also disappeared, Her Majesty at once said: "I knownow what the trouble is; they must have heard what I said about this warcoming on and are afraid there may be a repetition of the Boxer trouble, and so they have cleared out. " It was the custom whenever a eunuchwas missing to send out search parties and have him brought back andpunished, but in the present instance Her Majesty gave instructions thatnothing was to be done about recapturing them. One morning, however, one of Her Majesty's personal attendants was missing, which made herfurious. She said that she had been very kind to this particular eunuchin many ways, and this was all the thanks she got; he ran away at thefirst sign of trouble. I myself had noticed how good she had been tothis eunuch, but I was not really sorry that he had left, as he used totake advantage of every opportunity of getting some of the Court ladiesinto trouble. 

These disappearances continued from day to day until Her Majesty decidedthat it would be safer for us to remain in the Forbidden City until thefollowing spring at any rate. 

On inquiring from my eunuch the cause of these disappearances, he saidthat it was just as Her Majesty suspected; they were afraid of gettingmixed up in another such affair as the Boxer trouble, and added thathe was not a bit surprised at Her Majesty's favorite eunuch going alongwith the rest. He further told me that even Li Lien Ying himself was notto be absolutely relied upon, as at the time of Her Majesty's leavingPeking for Shi An during the Boxer movement, he had feigned sickness, and followed a little later, so that in the event of anything happening, he would be able to return and make his escape. While talking about LiLien Ying, my eunuch told me in confidence that he was responsible forthe death of many innocent people, mostly eunuchs. He had unlimitedpower at the Court, and it was very easy for him to get anybody putaway who offended him or to whom, for some reason or another, he tooka dislike. Furthermore, the eunuch informed me that, although notgenerally known, Li Lien Ying was addicted to opium-smoking, which habithe indulged in very freely. Even Her Majesty was unaware of this, asopium-smoking was strictly forbidden in the Palace. 

Each morning there was fresh news regarding the trouble between Russiaand Japan, and of course everybody gradually became very much excitedat the Palace. One day Her Majesty summoned the whole of the Court to aspecial audience and there informed us that there was no need for us toget excited at all; that if any trouble did occur, it was none of ourbusiness and we should not be interfered with, as the spirits of ourancestors were watching over us, and she did not want to hear any moretalk and gossip on the subject. However, she summoned all of the Courtladies to her apartment and there commanded us to pray to the spirits ofour ancestors to protect us, which plainly showed that she was just asmuch worried as we were ourselves. In spite of what she had said withreference to gossiping about this trouble, Her Majesty often spoke aboutit herself, and during one of our conversations she said she wished shecould get information each day as to what was actually occurring, soI suggested that it would be very easy to get all the latest news bytaking the foreign papers and also Reuter's specials. Her Majesty jumpedat the suggestion and told me to have these sent each day to my father'shouse in his name, and have them brought to the Palace, where I couldtranslate them for her. I told her that my father received all thesepapers as they were published, so I arranged that they should be broughtalong as directed by Her Majesty. Each morning during the audience Itranslated into Chinese all the war news, but the telegrams began toarrive so rapidly that it soon became quite impossible for me to writethem all out in Chinese, so I told Her Majesty that I would read andtranslate them into Chinese as they arrived. This was much quickerand interested Her Majesty so much that she insisted on my not onlytranslating the war news, but everything else of interest in the papers. Especially was she interested in all news appertaining to the movements, etc. , of the crowned heads of Europe, and was very plainly astonishedwhen she learned that their every movement was known. She said: "Here, at any rate, it is more private, for nobody outside the Palace everknows what is going on inside, not even my own people. It would be agood thing if they did know a little more, then perhaps all these rumorsabout the Palace would stop. "

Of course, during our stay in the Forbidden City, Miss Carl attendedeach morning to work on the portrait. We had given her a nice room, which seemed to suit her very well, and Her Majesty had instructed meto let her have every convenience possible to assist her, as she wasgetting tired of the business and would like to see it finished quickly. Her Majesty hardly ever went near the place herself, but when she didgo, she would be most affable and, really, one would think that it wasthe greatest pleasure of her life to go and inspect the portrait. 

Things went very slowly during this eleventh moon on account of theCourt being in mourning, so one day Her Majesty suggested that sheshould show us round the Forbidden City. First we proceeded to theAudience Hall. This differs somewhat from the Audience Hall of theSummer Palace. To enter, one must mount some twenty odd steps ofwhite marble, with rails on either side of the steps made of the samematerial. At the top of the steps a large veranda, supported by hugepillars of wood, painted red, surrounded the building. The windows alongthis verandah were of marvellously carved trellis-work, designed torepresent the character "Shou" arranged in different positions. Then weentered the hall itself. The floor is of brick, and Her Majesty toldus that all these bricks were of solid gold and had been there forcenturies. They were of a peculiar black color, doubtless painted over, and were so slippery that it was most difficult to keep on one's feet. The furnishing was similar to that in the Audience Halls in the SummerPalace and in the Sea Palace, with the exception that the throne wasmade of dark brown wood inlaid with jade of different colors. 

The Hall was only used for audience on very rare occasions, such as thebirthday of the Empress Dowager and New Year's Day, and no foreignerhas ever entered this building. All the usual audiences were held in asmaller building in the Forbidden City. 

After spending some little time in the Audience Hall, we next visitedthe Emperor's quarters. These were much smaller than those occupied byHer Majesty, but were very elaborately furnished. There were thirty-tworooms, many of which were never used, but all were furnished in thesame expensive style. In the rear of this building was the Palace of theYoung Empress, which was smaller still, having about twenty-four roomsin all, and in the same building three rooms were set apart for theuse of the Secondary wife of the Emperor. Although close together, thePalaces of the Emperor and his wife were not connected by any entrance, but both buildings were surrounded by verandas connecting with HerMajesty's apartments, which were quite a distance away. There wereseveral other buildings, which were used as waiting rooms for visitors. In addition to the above, there were several buildings which were notused at all; these were sealed and nobody seemed to know what theycontained, or whether they contained anything at all. Even Her Majestysaid she had never been inside these buildings, as they had been sealedfor many years. Even the entrance to the enclosure containing thesebuildings was always closed, and this was the only occasion that anyof us ever even passed through. They were quite different in appearancefrom any other buildings in the Palace, being very dirty and evidentlyof great age. We were commanded not to talk about the place at all. 

The apartments of the Court ladies were connected with those of HerMajesty, but the rooms were so small one could hardly turn round inthem; also they were very cold in winter. The servants' quarters were atthe end of our apartments, but there was no entrance and they couldonly be reached by passing along our veranda, while the only entrance weourselves had to our rooms was by passing along Her Majesty's veranda. This was Her Majesty's own idea, in order that she could keep an eye onall of us and could see when we either went out or came in. 

Her Majesty now conducted us to her own Palace, and pausing a littlesaid: "I will now show you something which will be quite new to you. "We entered a room adjoining her bedroom, which was connected by a narrowpassage some fifteen feet in length. On either side the walls werepainted and decorated very beautifully. Her Majesty spoke to one of theeunuch attendants, who stooped down and removed from the ground at eachend of this passage two wooden plugs which were fitted into holes in thebasement. I then began to realize that what I had hitherto regarded assolid walls were in reality sliding panels of wood. These panels whenopened revealed a kind of grotto. There were no windows, but in the roofwas a skylight. At one end of this room or grotto was a large rock, on the top of which was a seat with a yellow cushion, and beside thecushion an incense burner. Everything had the appearance of being veryold. The room contained no furniture of any description. One end ofthis room led into another passage similar to the one already described, having sliding panels, which led into another grotto, and so on; in factthe whole of the palace walls were intersected by these secret passages, each concealing an inner room. Her Majesty told us that during the Mingdynasty these rooms had been used for various purposes, principally bythe Emperor when he wished to be alone. One of these secret rooms wasused by Her Majesty as a treasure room where she kept her valuables. During the time of the Boxer trouble, she hid all her valuables herebefore she fled. When she returned and opened this secret room she foundeverything intact, not one of the vandals who ransacked the Palace evensuspecting there was such a place. 

We returned to our veranda, and on looking around for the rooms we hadjust vacated, could see nothing excepting black stone walls, so wellwere they hidden. One of the principal reasons for Her Majesty's disliketo the Forbidden City was the mysteries which it contained, many ofwhich she did not know of herself. She said: "I don't even talk aboutthese places at all, as people might think that they were used for allkinds of purposes. "

While at the Palace in the Forbidden City I met the three Secondarywives of the previous Emperor Tung Chi, son of the Empress Dowager, who, since the death of the Emperor, had resided in the Forbidden City andspent their time in doing needlework, etc. , for Her Majesty. When I gotto know them I found that they were highly educated, one of them, YuFai, being exceptionally clever. She could write poetry and play manymusical instruments, and was considered to be the best educated ladyin the Empire of China. Her knowledge of western countries and theircustoms surprised me very much; she seemed to know a little bit ofeverything. I asked how it was that I had never seen them before, andwas informed that they never visited Her Majesty unless commanded byher to do so, but that when Her Majesty stayed in the Forbidden City, of course they had to call and pay their respects each day. One day Ireceived an invitation to visit them in their Palace. This was separatedfrom all the other buildings in the city. It was rather a smallbuilding, and very simply furnished, with just a few eunuchs and servantgirls to wait upon them. They said they preferred this simple life, as they never received any visitors and had nobody to please butthemselves. Yu Fai's room was literally packed with literature of alldescriptions. She showed me several poems which she had written, butthey were of a melancholy character, plainly showing the trend of herthoughts. She was in favor of establishing schools for the educationof young girls, as only very few could even read or write their ownlanguage, and she suggested that I should speak to Her Majesty about itat the first opportunity. In spite of her desire to see western reformsintroduced into China, however, she was not in favor of employingmissionary teachers, as these people always taught their religion atthe expense of other subjects, which she feared would set the Chineseagainst the movement. 

Toward the end of the eleventh moon Her Majesty granted an audience tothe Viceroy of Chihli, Yuan Shih Kai, and as this particular day wasa holiday and Miss Carl was absent, I was able to attend. Her Majestyasked him for his opinion of the trouble between Russia and Japan. He said that although these two countries might make war against eachother, China would not be implicated in any way, but that after the warwas over, there was sure to be trouble over Manchuria. Her Majesty saidshe was quite aware of that, as they were fighting on Chinese territory, and that the best thing for China to do would be to keep absolutelyneutral in the matter, as she had quite enough of war during theChina-Japan war. She said it would be best to issue orders to all theofficials to see that the Chinese did not interfere in any way, so asnot to give any excuse for being brought into the trouble. 

She then asked his opinion as to what would be the result in the eventof war--who would win. He said that it was very hard to say, but thathe thought Japan would win. Her Majesty thought that if Japan werevictorious, she would not have so much trouble over the matter, althoughshe expressed doubts as to the outcome, saying that Russia was a largecountry and had many soldiers, and that the result was far from certain. 

Her Majesty then spoke about the condition of things in China. She saidthat in case China were forced into war with another nation, we shouldbe nowhere. We had nothing ready, no navy and no trained army, in factnothing to enable us to protect ourselves. Yuan Shih Kai, however, assured her there was no need to anticipate any trouble at present sofar as China was concerned. Her Majesty replied that in any event itwas time China began to wake up and endeavor to straighten things out insome way or other, but she did not know where to begin; that it was herambition to see China holding a prominent position among the nationsof the world and that she was constantly receiving memorials suggestingthis reform and that reform, but that we never seemed to get anyfurther. 

After this audience was over, Her Majesty held an audience with theGrand Council. She told them what had been said during her interviewwith Yuan Shih Kai, and of course they all agreed that something shouldbe done. Several suggestions were discussed with regard to nationaldefense, etc. , but a certain Prince said that although he was in perfectsympathy with reform generally, he was very much against the adoption offoreign clothing, foreign modes of living, and the doing away with thequeue. Her Majesty quite agreed with these remarks and said that itwould not be wise to change any Chinese custom for one which was lesscivilized. As usual, nothing definite was decided upon when the audiencewas over. 

For the next few days nothing was talked of but the war, and manyChinese generals were received in audience by Her Majesty. Theseaudiences were sometimes very amusing, as these soldiers were quiteunaccustomed to the rules of the Court and did not know the mode ofprocedure when in the presence of Her Majesty. Many foolish suggestionswere made by these generals. During one of the conversations Her Majestyremarked on the inefficiency of the navy and referred to the fact thatwe had no trained naval officers. One of the generals replied that wehad more men in China than in any other country, and as for ships, whywe had dozens of river boats and China merchant boats, which could beused in case of war. Her Majesty ordered him to retire, saying thatit was perfectly true that we had plenty of men in China, but that themajority of them were like himself, of very little use to the country. After he had retired, everybody commenced to laugh, but Her Majestystopped us, saying that she did not feel at all like laughing, she wastoo angry to think that such men held positions as officers in the armyand navy. One of the Court ladies asked me why Her Majesty was so angrywith the man for mentioning the river boats, and was very much surprisedwhen I informed her that the whole of them would be worse than uselessagainst a single war vessel. 

Just about the end of the eleventh moon Chang Chih Tung, Viceroy ofWuchang, arrived, and was received in audience. Her Majesty said to him:"Now, you are one of the oldest officials in the country, and I want youto give me your unbiased opinion as to what effect this war is going tohave on China. Do not be afraid to give your firm opinion, as I want tobe prepared for anything which is likely to happen. " He answered thatno matter what the result of the war might be, China would in allprobability have to make certain concessions to the Powers with regardto Manchuria for trade purposes, but that we should not otherwise beinterfered with. Her Majesty repeated what had been discussed at theprevious audiences on this subject and also regarding reform in China. Chang Chih Tung replied that we had plenty of time for reform, and thatif we were in too great a hurry, we should not accomplish anything atall. He suggested that the matter be discussed at length before decidingupon anything definite. In his opinion it would be foolish to go toextremes in the matter of reform. He said that ten or fifteen years agohe would have been very much against any reform whatsoever, but thathe now saw the need for it to a certain extent, as circumstances hadchanged very much. He said that we should adhere strictly to our ownmode of living and not abandon the traditions of our ancestors. In otherwords, he simply advised the adoption of western civilization whereit was an improvement on our own, and nothing more. Her Majesty wasdelighted with the interview, for Chang Chih Tung's opinions coincidedexactly with her own. 

During the whole of these audiences the Emperor, although present eachtime, never opened his lips to say a word, but sat listening all thetime. As a rule, Her Majesty would ask his opinion, just as a matter ofform, but he invariably replied that he was quite in accord with whatHer Majesty had said or decided upon. 

Of the many religious ceremonies in connection with the Buddhistreligion the "La-pachow" was the most important. This was held on the8th day of the twelfth moon each year. According to the common belief, on this eighth day of the twelfth moon, many centuries ago, a certainBuddhist priest Ju Lai set out to beg for food, and after receiving agood supply of rice and beans from the people, he returned and dividedit with his brother priests, giving each an equal share, and he becamecelebrated for his great charity. This day was therefore set apart asan anniversary to commemorate the event. The idea was that by practisingself-denial on this day, one would gain favor in the sight of thisBuddha Ju Lai, therefore the only food eaten was rice, grain and beans, all mixed together in a sort of porridge, but without any salt orother flavoring. It was not at all pleasant to eat, being absolutelytasteless. 

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN--THE NEW YEAR FESTIVALS

WE now reached the time set apart for cleaning the Palace in preparationfor the New Year festivals. Everything had to be taken down andthoroughly overhauled, and all the images, pictures, furniture andeverything else were subjected to a thorough scrubbing. Her Majestyagain consulted her book in order to choose a lucky day on which tocommence these operations, finally choosing the twelfth day as beingmost favorable. As we had all received our orders previously, wecommenced early on the morning of the twelfth. Several of the Courtladies were told off to take down and clean the images of Buddha andprepare new curtains for them. The rest of the cleaning was done by theeunuchs. I asked Her Majesty whether I was to clean her jewelry, butshe answered that as nobody but herself ever wore it, it didn't needcleaning. 

After everything had been cleaned to Her Majesty's satisfaction, she prepared a list of names of the people she desired to attend theceremony of Tzu Sui. This ceremony was held on the last day of each yearand was something like the midnight services usually held in Europe onthe last night of each old year--just a farewell ceremony to bid the oldyear adieu. The guests were invited about a fortnight ahead, so as togive them plenty of time to get ready. Her Majesty also ordered newwinter clothing for the Court ladies. The only difference between thesenew garments and those we were then wearing was that they were trimmedwith the fur of the silver fox instead of the gray squirrel. 

The next thing was to prepare cakes, which were to be placed before theBuddhas and ancestors, during the New Year. It was necessary that HerMajesty should make the first one herself. So when Her Majesty decidedthat it was time to prepare these cakes the whole Court went into aroom specially prepared for the purpose and the eunuchs brought in theingredients-ground rice, sugar and yeast. These were mixed together intoa sort of dough and then steamed instead of baked, which caused it torise just like ordinary bread, it being believed that the higher thecake rises, the better pleased are the gods and the more fortunatethe maker. The first cake turned out fine and we all congratulated HerMajesty, who was evidently much pleased herself at the result. Thenshe ordered each of the Court ladies to make one, which we did, withdisastrous results, not one turning out as it should. This being myfirst year, there was some excuse for my failure, but I was surprisedthat none of the older Court ladies fared any better, and on inquiringfrom one of them the reason, she replied: "Why, I did it purposely, ofcourse, so as to flatter Her Majesty's vanity. Certainly I could makethem just as well as she, if not better, but it would not be goodpolicy. " After we had all finished making our cakes, the eunuchs wereordered to make the rest, and needless to say they were perfect in everyway. 

The next thing was to prepare small plates of dates and fresh fruitsof every kind. These were decorated with evergreens, etc. , and placedbefore the images of Buddha. Then we prepared glass dishes of candy, which were to be offered to the God of the Kitchen. On the twenty-thirdday of the last moon the God of the Kitchen left this earth to go on avisit to the King of Heaven, to whom he reported all that we had beendoing during the past year, returning to earth again on the last day ofthe year. The idea of offering him these sweets was in order that theyshould stick to his mouth and prevent him from telling too much. Whenthese candies were prepared, we all adjourned to the kitchen and placedthe offering on a table specially placed for the purpose. Turning tothe head cook, she said: "You had better look out now; the God of theKitchen will tell how much you have stolen during the past year, and youwill be punished. "

The following day another ceremony had to be gone through, that ofwriting out the New Year Greetings for the guests and Court, so in themorning we all went with Her Majesty to the Audience Hall, where theeunuchs had prepared large sheets of yellow, red and pale green paper. Her Majesty took up a large brush and commenced to write. On some ofthese sheets she wrote the character "Shou" (Long Life) and on others"Fu" (Prosperity). By and bye, when she began to feel tired, she wouldget either one of the Court ladies or one of the official writers tofinish them for her. When finished, they were distributed to the guestsand different officials, the ones Her Majesty had written herself beingreserved for her special favorites. These were given out a few daysbefore the New Year. 

Her Majesty received New Year presents from all the Viceroys andprincipal officials. She would examine each present as it was received, and if it found favor in her eyes, she would use it, but if not, shewould have it locked away in one of the storerooms and probably neversee it again. These presents consisted of small pieces of furniture, curios, jewelry, silks, in fact everything--even clothing. The presentsent by Viceroy Yuan Shih Kai was a yellow satin robe, embroidered withdifferent colored precious stones and pearls designed to represent thepeony flower; the leaves were of green jade. It was really a magnificentthing, and must have cost a fortune. The only drawback was its weight;it was too heavy to wear comfortably. Her Majesty appeared delightedwith this gown, and wore it the first day, after which it was discardedaltogether, although I often suggested that she should wear it, as itwas the most magnificent gown I ever saw. Once when Her Majesty wasgranting an audience to the Diplomatic Corps, I suggested that sheshould wear this dress, but she refused, giving no reason, so nobodyoutside the Court has ever seen this wonderful garment. 

Another costly present was received from the Viceroy of Canton, andconsisted of four bags of pearls, each bag containing several thousands. They were all perfect in shape and color, and would have broughtfabulous prices in Europe or America. However, Her Majesty had so manyjewels, especially pearls, that she hardly paid any attention to thembeyond remarking that they were very nice. 

The Young Empress and the Court ladies were also expected to givepresents to Her Majesty each New Year. These were for the most partarticles that we had made ourselves, such as shoes, handkerchiefs, collars, bags, etc. My mother, my sister and myself made presents ofmirrors, perfumes, soaps and similar toilet accessories which we hadbrought with us from Paris. These Her Majesty appreciated very much; shewas very vain. The eunuchs and servant girls gave fancy cakes and otherfood stuffs. 

The presents were so numerous that they filled several rooms, but wewere not allowed to remove them until Her Majesty gave orders to do so. 

The Court ladies also exchanged presents among themselves, which oftenled to confusion and amusement. On this occasion I had received someten or a dozen different presents, and when it came my turn to givesomething, I decided to use up some of the presents I had received frommy companions. To my surprise, the next day I received from one of theCourt ladies an embroidered handkerchief which I immediately recognizedas the identical handkerchief I had myself sent her as my New Year'spresent. On mentioning the fact, this lady turned and said: "Well, thatis rather funny; I was just wondering what had made you return theshoes I sent you. " Of course everybody laughed very heartily, and stillfurther merriment was caused when, on comparing all the presents, it wasfound that quite half of us had received back our own presents. In orderto settle the matter, we threw them all into a heap and divided them asevenly as possible, everybody being satisfied with the result. 

About a week before New Year's day all audiences ceased and the sealswere put away until after the holidays. During this time no business wastransacted by Her Majesty. Everything was much more comfortable and wecould see that Her Majesty also appreciated the change from bustle toquietness. We had nothing whatever to do but to take things easy untilthe last day of the year. 

Early on the morning of the thirtieth Her Majesty went to worship beforethe Buddhas and Ancestral Tablets. After this ceremony was finished, theguests began to arrive, until by midday, all the guests, numbering aboutfifty, were present. The principal guests were: The Imperial Princess(Empress Dowager's adopted daughter), Princess Chung (wife of EmperorKwang Hsu's brother), Princesses Shun and Tao (wives of the Emperor'syounger brothers), Princess hung (wife of the nephew of the ImperialPrincess), and Prince Ching's family. All these ladies were frequentvisitors to the Court. Next day many other Princesses, not of theImperial family, but whose titles were honorary titles bestowed byprevious rulers, came. Next, the daughters of the high Manchu officialsand many other people whom I had never seen before. By midday all theguests had arrived, and, after being presented to Her Majesty, weretaken to their different apartments and told to rest a while. At twoo'clock in the afternoon everybody assembled in the Audience Hall, linedup according to their different ranks and, led by the Young Empress, kowtowed to Her Majesty. This was the ceremony Tzu Sui already referredto, and was simply a last goodbye to Her Majesty before the New Year setin. When it was all over, Her Majesty gave each of us a small purse madeof red satin embroidered with gold, containing a sum of money. This isto enable each one to commence the New Year with a kind of reserve fundfor a rainy day, when they would have this money to fall back upon. Itis an old Manchu custom and is still kept up. 

The evening was spent in music and enjoyment, and was carried on rightthrough the night, none of us going to bed. At Her Majesty's suggestionwe commenced gambling with dice, Her Majesty providing each of us withmoney, sometimes as much as $200. She told us to be serious about it, and to try and win, but of course we took good care not to win from HerMajesty. When Her Majesty began to tire, she stopped the game and said:"Now, all this money I have won I am going to throw on the floor, andyou girls can scramble for it. " We knew that she wanted to see some fun, so we fought for it as hard as we could. 

At midnight the eunuchs brought into the room a large brass braziercontaining live charcoal. Her Majesty pulled a leaf from a largeevergreen tree, which had been placed there for the purpose, and threwit into the fire. We each followed her example, adding large pieces ofresin, which perfumed the whole atmosphere. This ceremony was supposedto bring good luck during the coming year. 

The next item was making cakes or pies for New Year's day. On the firstof the New Year, nobody is allowed to eat rice, these cakes taking itsplace. They were made of flour paste, with minced meat inside. Whilesome of us were preparing these cakes, others were peeling lotus seedsfor Her Majesty's breakfast. 

It was now well on into the morning hours and Her Majesty said that shewas tired and would go and rest a while. She was not going to sleep, however, so we could carry on our noise as much as we liked. This we didfor some time, and on visiting Her Majesty's bedroom, we found that shewas fast asleep. We then all repaired to our various rooms and commencedto make ourselves tidy for the day. As soon as Her Majesty was awake, we all proceeded to her bedroom, taking with us plates of apples(representing "Peace"), olives ("Long Life"), lotus seeds (Blessing). She suitably acknowledged these gifts and wished us all good luck inreturn. She inquired whether we had been to bed and, on learning thatwe had been up all night, she said that was right. She herself had notmeant to sleep, only to rest a little, but somehow she had not been ableto keep awake, and gave as a reason that she was an old woman. We waitedon her until she had finished her toilet and then wished her a Happy NewYear. We then proceeded to pay our respects to the Emperor and tothe Young Empress. There was nothing further to be done in the way ofceremonies, and we therefore all accompanied Her Majesty to the theatre. The performance took place on a stage erected in the courtyard, and HerMajesty closed in one part of her veranda for the use of the guests andCourt ladies. During the performance I began to feel very drowsy, andeventually fell fast asleep leaning against one of the pillars. I awokerather suddenly to find that something had been dropped into my mouth, but on investigation I found it was nothing worse than a piece of candy, which I immediately proceeded to eat. On approaching Her Majesty, sheasked me how I had enjoyed the candy, and told me not to sleep, but tohave a good time like the rest. I never saw Her Majesty in betterhumor. She played with us just like a young girl, and one could hardlyrecognize in her the severe Empress Dowager we knew her to be. 

The guests also all seemed to be enjoying themselves very much. In theevening, after the theatrical performance was over, Her Majesty orderedthe eunuchs to bring in their instruments and give us some music. Sheherself sang several songs, and we all sang at intervals. Then HerMajesty ordered the eunuchs to sing. Some were trained singers, and sangvery nicely, but others could not sing at all and caused quite a lot ofamusement by their efforts to please Her Majesty. The Emperor appearedto be the only one present who was not having a good time; he neversmiled once. On meeting him outside, I asked him why he looked so sad, but he only answered: "A Happy New Year" in English, smiled once, andwalked away. 

Her Majesty rose very early next morning and proceeded to the AudienceHall to worship the God of Wealth. We all accompanied her and took partin the ceremony. During the next few days we did nothing but gamble andscramble for Her Majesty's winnings. This was all very nice in its way, until one day one of the Court ladies began to cry, and accused me ofstepping on her toes in the scramble. This made Her Majesty angry andshe ordered the offender to go to her room and stay there for threedays, saying that she did not deserve to be enjoying herself if shecould not stand a little thing like that. 

The tenth of the first moon was the birthday of the Young Empress, andwe asked Her Majesty whether we would be allowed to give presents. Shegave us permission to give whatever presents we might wish to. However, we submitted all our presents to Her Majesty for her approval, beforegiving them to the Young Empress, and we had to be very discreet and notchoose anything which Her Majesty might think was too good. It was verydifficult to tell what to send, as Her Majesty might take a fancy toany of the presents herself, even though they might not be of much valueintrinsically. In such a case Her Majesty would tell us that she wouldkeep it, and to give the Young Empress something else. 

The celebration was very similar to that of the Emperor's birthday, butnot on such an elaborate scale. We presented the Ru Yee to the YoungEmpress and kowtowed to her. She was supposed to receive these tokens ofrespect sitting on her throne, but out of deference to Her Majesty(we were Her Majesty's Court ladies) she stood up. She always was verypolite to us under all circumstances. 

On this day, as on the Emperor's birthday, the Emperor, Young Empressand Secondary wife dined together. These were the only two occasionswhen they did so, always dining separately at other times. Her Majestysent two of her Court ladies to wait upon the Empress, I myself beingone of them. I was very pleased, as I wanted to see for myself how theyconducted themselves when together. I went into the Young Empress' roomand informed her that Her Majesty had ordered us to wait upon them, towhich she simply answered: "Very well. " So we went to the dining roomand set the table, placing the chairs into position. The meal was muchdifferent from what I expected. Instead of being stiff and seriouslike Her Majesty when dining they were quite free and easy, and we wereallowed to join in the conversation and partake of some of the food andwine. A very pretty ceremony was gone through at the commencement of themeal. The Emperor and Young Empress seated themselves, and the Secondarywife filled their cups with wine and presented it to them in turn as asign of respect, the Emperor first. When the meal was over we returnedto Her Majesty's apartment and told her that everything had passed offnicely. We knew very well that we had been sent simply to act as spies, but we had nothing interesting to tell Her Majesty. She asked if theEmperor had been very serious and we answered "Yes. "

The New Year celebrations terminated with the Festival of Lanterns onthe fifteenth day of the first moon. These lanterns were of differentshapes, representing animals, flowers, fruits, etc. , etc. They were madeof white gauze, painted in different colors. One lantern representinga dragon about fifteen feet long was fastened to ten poles, and teneunuchs were required to hold it in position. In front of this dragona eunuch was holding a lantern representing a large pearl, which thedragon was supposed to devour. This ceremony was gone through to theaccompaniment of music. 

After the lanterns came a firework display. These fireworks representeddifferent scenes in the history of China, grape vines, wisteriablossoms, and many other flowers. It was a very imposing sight. Portablewooden houses had been placed near the fireworks from which Her Majestyand the rest of the Court could see them without being out in the coldair. This display lasted for several hours without a stop, and thousandsof firecrackers were set off during the time. Her Majesty seemed toenjoy the noise very much. Altogether it was a good finish to thecelebrations and we all enjoyed it very much. 

The next morning all the guests departed from the Palace and were-commenced our everyday life. 

As usual after the guests had departed Her Majesty began to criticisetheir mode of dressing, their ignorance of Court etiquette, etc. , butadded that she was rather glad, as she didn't want them to know anythingabout Court life. 

As Spring soon arrived it was time for the farmers to commence sowingseed for the rice crop, and of course there was another ceremony. TheEmperor visited the Temple of Agriculture where he prayed for a goodharvest. Then he proceeded to a small plot of ground situated in thetemple and after turning the earth over with a hand plow he sowed thefirst seeds of the season. This was to show the farmers that theirlabors were not despised and that even the Emperor was not ashamed toengage in this work. Anybody could attend this ceremony, it being quitea public affair, and many farmers were present. 

About this same time the Young Empress went to see the silkworms andwatch for the eggs to be hatched. As soon as they were out, the YoungEmpress gathered mulberry leaves for the worms to feed upon and watchedthem until they were big enough to commence spinning. Each day a freshsupply of leaves were gathered and they were fed four or five timesdaily. Several of the Court ladies were told off to feed the wormsduring the night and see that they did not escape. These silkworms growvery rapidly and we could see the difference each day. Of course whenthey became full grown they required more food and we were kept busyconstantly feeding them. The Young Empress was able to tell by holdingthem up to the light when they were ready to spin. If they weretransparent then they were ready, and were placed on paper and leftthere. When spinning the silkworm does not eat, therefore all we had todo was to watch that they did not get away. After spinning for four orfive days their supply of silk becomes exhausted and they shrivel up andapparently die. These apparently dead worms were collected by the YoungEmpress and placed in a box where they were kept until they developedinto moths. They were then placed on thick paper and left there to laytheir eggs. 

If left to themselves, the silkworms when ready for spinning will spinthe silk around their bodies until they are completely covered up, gradually forming a cocoon. In order to determine when they havefinished spinning it was customary to take the cocoon and rattle itnear the ear. If the worm was exhausted you could plainly hear the bodyrattle inside the cocoon. The cocoon is then placed in boiling wateruntil it becomes soft. This, of course, kills the worm. In order toseparate the silk a needle is used to pick up the end of the threadwhich is then wound on to a spool and is ready for weaving. A few of thecocoons were kept until the worms had turned into moths, which soon atetheir way out of the cocoons when they were placed on sheets of paperand left to lay their eggs, which are taken away and kept in a coolplace until the following Spring, when the eggs are hatched and becomeworms. 

When the silk had all been separated we took it to Her Majesty forinspection and approval. On this particular occasion Her Majesty orderedone of the eunuchs to bring in some silk which she herself had wovenwhen a young girl in the Palace, and on comparing it with the new silkit was found to be just as good in every way although many years hadpassed since it was made. 

All this was done with the same object as the Emperor sowing the seeds, viz. :--to set the people a good example and to encourage them in theirwork. 

CHAPTER NINETEEN--THE SEA PALACE

THIS year we had a very hot spring and Her Majesty was desirous ofgetting back again to the Sea Palace. However, as war had already beendeclared between Russia and Japan it was thought best to remain in theForbidden City until things were more settled. Her Majesty was very muchworried over this war and spent most of her time in offering prayersto the different divinities for the welfare of China and we, of course, were expected to join her. Things were very monotonous about this timeand nothing particular occurred until the beginning of the second moon. By this time Her Majesty was quite sick of staying in the Forbidden Cityand said that no matter what happened she would remove the Court tothe Sea Palace, where Miss Carl could get along and finish the portraitwhich had been hanging on for nearly a year. So on the sixth day of thesecond moon we moved back to the Sea Palace. Everything looked fresh andgreen and many of the trees had commenced to blossom. Her Majesty tookus around the lake and we were in such good spirits that Her Majestyremarked that we acted more like a lot of wild animals escaped from amenagerie than human beings. She was much brighter now, but said thatshe would be happier still to get to the Summer Palace. 

Miss Carl was summoned to the Palace, and Her Majesty visited her andasked to see the portrait. She again asked me how long it would bebefore it was finished, and I told her that unless she gave a littlemore of her time to posing it might not be finished for quite a longtime. After a lot of consideration Her Majesty finally agreed to giveMiss Carl five minutes each day after the morning audience, but that shedesired it to be distinctly understood that she did not intend to posefor anything but the face. She accordingly sat for two mornings, buton the third morning she made an excuse saying that she was not feelingwell. I told her that Miss Carl could not proceed further unless she satfor the face, so, although she was very angry, she gave Miss Carl a fewmore sittings until the face was finished. She absolutely refused to sitagain whether it was finished or not, saying that she would have nothingmore to do with the portrait. I myself sat for the remainder of theportrait, viz. :--for Her Majesty's dress, jewels, etc. , and so bydegrees the portrait was completed. 

When Her Majesty learned that the portrait was nearing completion shewas very much pleased, and I thought it a good opportunity to againbroach the subject of payment. Her Majesty asked me whether I reallythought it necessary to pay cash for the portrait and how much. I toldher that as painting was Miss Carl's profession, if she had not beenengaged on painting Her Majesty's portrait she would most probably havebeen engaged on other similar work for which she would have receivedcompensation, and that therefore she would naturally expect to be paideven more handsomely in this instance. It was difficult to make HerMajesty understand this and she asked if I was quite certain that MissCarl would not be offended by an offer of money, also Mrs. Conger whohad presented her. I explained that in America and Europe it was quitecustomary for ladies to earn their own living either by painting, teaching or in some other similar manner, and that it was no disgracebut rather the opposite. Her Majesty seemed very much surprised to learnthis, and asked why Miss Carl's brother did not support her himself. Itold Her Majesty that Miss Carl did not desire him to provide for her, besides which he was married and had a family to support. Her Majestygave it as her opinion that this was a funny kind of civilization. InChina when the parents were dead it was the duty of the sons to providefor their unmarried sisters until such time as they married. She alsosaid that if Chinese ladies were to work for their living it would onlyset people talking about them. However, she promised to speak with HerMinisters about paying Miss Carl, and I felt somewhat relieved as thereseemed to be a probability of something satisfactory being arrangedafter all. 

The twelfth day of the second moon was the anniversary of anotherinteresting ceremony, viz. :--the birthday of the flowers and trees. After the morning audience we all went into the Palace grounds, wherethe eunuchs were waiting with huge rolls of red silk. These we allcommenced to cut into narrow strips about two inches wide and three feetlong. When we had cut sufficient Her Majesty took a strip of red silkand another of yellow silk which she tied round the stem of one ofthe peony trees (in China the peony is considered to be the queen offlowers). Then all the Court ladies, eunuchs and servant girls set towork to decorate every single tree and plant in the grounds with redsilk ribbons, in the same manner as Her Majesty had done. This took upnearly the entire morning and it made a very pretty picture, with thebright costumes of the Court ladies, green trees and beautiful flowers. 

We then went to a theatrical performance. This represented all thetree fairies and flower fairies celebrating their birthday. The Chinesebelieve that all the trees and flowers have their own particularfairies, the tree fairies being men and the flower fairies being women. The costumes were very pretty and were chosen to blend with the greentrees and flowers which were on the stage. One of the costumes worn by alotus fairy was made of pink silk, worked so as to represent the petalsof the flower, the skirt being of green silk to represent the lotusleaves. Whenever this fairy moved about the petals would move justas though wafted by the breeze, like a natural flower. Several othercostumes representing different flowers were made in the same manner. The scene was a woodland dell, surrounded with huge rocks perforatedwith caves, out of which came innumerable small fairies bearingdecanters of wine. These small fairies represented the smaller flowers, daisies, pomegranate blossoms, etc. The result can be better imaginedthan described. All the fairies gathered together and drank the wine, after which they commenced to sing, accompanied by stringed instruments, played very softly. The final scene was a very fitting ending to theperformance. It represented a small rainbow which gradually descendeduntil it rested on the rocks; then each fairy in turn would sit uponthe rainbow which rose again and conveyed them through the clouds intoHeaven. This completed the celebration and we all retired to our rooms. 

On the fourteenth day of the second moon (March 2, 1904), I completed myfirst year at Court. I had quite forgotten this fact until Her Majestyreminded me of it. She asked whether I was comfortable and happy whereI was or did I long to return to Paris. I answered truly that althoughI had enjoyed myself while in France still I preferred the life of theCourt, it was so interesting, besides which I was in my own native landand among all my friends and relations, and naturally I preferred thatto living in a strange land. Her Majesty smiled and said she was afraidthat sooner or later I would tire of the life in the Palace and fly awayagain across the ocean. She said that the only way to make sure of mewas to marry me off. She again asked me what was my objection to gettingmarried; was I afraid of having a mother-in-law, or what was it? Ifthat was all, I need not worry, for so long as she was alive there wasnothing to be afraid of. Her Majesty said that even if I were married itwould not be necessary for me to stay at home all the time, but that Iwould be able to spend my time in the Palace as usual. Continuing, shesaid: "Last year when this marriage question came up I was willing tomake allowances as you had been brought up somewhat differently from therest of my Court ladies, but do not run away with the idea that I haveforgotten all about it. I am still on the lookout for a suitable husbandfor you. " I simply answered as before--that I had absolutely no desireto marry, but that I wanted to stay where I was and live at the Court solong as Her Majesty was willing to have me there. She made some remarkabout my being stubborn and said that I should probably change my mindbefore long. 

During the latter part of the second moon Miss Carl worked very hard toget the portrait finished and Her Majesty again consulted her book inorder to select a lucky day on which to put the final touches to thepicture. The 19th of April, 1904, was chosen by Her Majesty as thebest time, and Miss Carl was duly notified. Miss Carl most emphaticallystated that it was quite impossible to finish the portrait properly bythe time named, and I told Her Majesty what Miss Carl said, explainingthat there were many small finishing touches to be added and I suggestedit would be better to give Miss Carl a few days longer if possible. However, Her Majesty said that it must be finished by four o'clock onthe 19th day of April, and therefore there was nothing further to besaid. 

About a week before the time fixed for completion Her Majesty paid avisit to the studio to finally inspect the picture. She seemed very muchpleased with it, but still objected to her face being painted dark onone side and light on the other. As I have said before, I had explainedthat this was the shading, but Her Majesty insisted on my telling MissCarl to make both sides of her face alike. This led to a pretty hotdiscussion between Miss Carl and myself but she finally saw that it wasno use going against Her Majesty's wishes in the matter, so consentedto make some slight alteration. Happening to catch sight of some foreigncharacters at the foot of the painting Her Majesty inquired what theywere and on being informed that they were simply the artist's name, said: "Well, I know foreigners do some funny things, but I think thisabout the funniest I ever heard of. Fancy putting her own name on mypicture. This will naturally convey the impression that it is a portraitof Miss Carl, and not a portrait of myself at all. " I again had toexplain the reason for this, saying that it was always customary forforeign artists to write their names at the foot of any picture theypainted, whether portrait or otherwise. So Her Majesty said she supposedit was all right, and would have to remain, but she looked anything butsatisfied with it. 

By working practically all night and all day, Miss Carl managed to getthe portrait finished by the time stipulated, and Her Majesty arrangedthat Mrs. Conger and the other ladies of the Diplomatic Corps shouldcome to the Palace and see the portrait. This was quite a privateaudience and Her Majesty received them in one of the small AudienceHalls. After the usual greetings Her Majesty ordered us to conduct theladies to the studio, which we did, Her Majesty bidding them good-byeand remaining in her own apartments. The Young Empress in accordancewith instructions from Her Majesty, accompanied us to the studio, andacted as hostess. Everybody expressed great admiration for the portraitand it was voted a marvellous likeness. After inspecting the picture weall adjourned for refreshments. The Young Empress sat at the head ofthe table and asked me to sit next to her. Shortly after everybody wasseated a eunuch came and asked the Young Empress to inform these ladiesthat the Emperor was slightly indisposed and was unable to be present. Iinterpreted this, and everybody appeared satisfied. As a matter of factthe Emperor was quite well, but we had forgotten all about him. And sothe guests departed without seeing him on this occasion. 

On reporting everything to Her Majesty as usual, she asked what theythought of the portrait, and we told her that they had admired it verymuch. Her Majesty said: "Of course they did, it was painted by a foreignartist. " She didn't appear to be very much interested and was quitecross about something, which caused me great disappointment after allthe trouble Miss Carl had taken to finish the portrait. Her Majestythen remarked that Miss Carl had taken a long time to get the portraitfinished, and asked why nobody had reminded her to inform the Emperorabout the audience, being particularly angry with the head eunuch onthis occasion. Her Majesty said that as soon as she remembered, sheimmediately sent a eunuch to make excuses, as the ladies might verywell think that something had happened to the Emperor and it might causetalk. I told her that I explained to them that the Emperor was not welland they evidently thought nothing further of his absence. 

By the next day the carpenters in the Palace had finished the frame forthe portrait and when it had been properly fitted Her Majesty ordered mybrother to take a photograph of it. This photograph turned out so wellthat Her Majesty said it was better than the portrait itself. 

The picture being now quite finished, Miss Carl prepared to take herleave, which she did a few days later, having received a handsomepresent in cash from Her Majesty in addition to a decoration and manyother presents as remuneration for her services. For quite a long timeafter Miss Carl had left the Palace I felt very lonely, as during herstay I had found her a genial companion and we had many things in commonto talk about. Her Majesty noticed that I was rather quiet, and asked methe cause. She said: "I suppose you are beginning to miss your friend, the lady artist. " I did not care to admit that this was so, for fear shemight think me ungrateful to herself, besides which I knew she did notlike the idea of my being too friendly with foreigners. So I explainedto Her Majesty that I always did regret losing old friends but that Iwould get used to the change very soon. Her Majesty was very nice aboutit and said she wished that she was a little more sentimental over suchsmall things, but that when I got to her age I should be able to takethings more philosophically. 

After Miss Carl had left the Court, Her Majesty asked me one day: "Didshe ever ask you much about the Boxer movement of 1900?" I told her thatI knew very little of the Boxer movement myself, as I was in Paris atthe time and I could not say very much. I assured her that the ladyartist never mentioned the subject to me. Her Majesty said: "I hate tomention about that affair and I would not like to have foreigners ask mypeople questions on that subject. Do you know, I have often thought thatI am the most clever woman that ever lived and others cannot comparewith me. Although I have heard much about Queen Victoria and read a partof her life which someone has translated into Chinese, still I don'tthink her life was half so interesting and eventful as mine. My life isnot finished yet and no one knows what is going to happen in the future. I may surprise the foreigners some day with something extraordinary anddo something quite contrary to anything I have yet done. England is oneof great powers of the world, but this has not been brought about byQueen Victoria's absolute rule. She had the able men of parliament backof her at all times and of course they discussed everything until thebest result was obtained, then she would sign the necessary documentsand really had nothing to say about the policy of the country. Now lookat me. I have 400, 000, 000 people, all dependent on my judgment. AlthoughI have the Grand Council to consult with, they only look after thedifferent appointments, but anything of an important nature I mustdecide myself. What does the Emperor know? I have been very successfulso far, but I never dreamt that the Boxer movement would end with suchserious results for China. That is the only mistake I have made inmy life. I should have issued an Edict at once to stop the Boxerspractising their belief, but both Prince Tuan and Duke Lan told me thatthey firmly believed the Boxers were sent by Heaven to enable Chinato get rid of all the undesirable and hated foreigners. Of course theymeant mostly missionaries, and you know how I hate them and how veryreligious I always am, so I thought I would not say anything then butwould wait and see what would happen. I felt sure they were going toofar as one day Prince Tuan brought the Boxer leader to the Summer Palaceand summoned all the eunuchs into the courtyard of the Audience Hall andexamined each eunuch on the head to see if there was a cross. He said, 'This cross is not visible to you, but I can identify a Christian byfinding a cross on the head. ' Prince Tuan then came to my private Palaceand told me that the Boxer leader was at the Palace Gate and had foundtwo eunuchs who were Christians and asked me what was to be done. Iimmediately became very angry and told him that he had no right to bringany Boxers to the Palace without my permission; but he said this leaderwas so powerful that he was able to kill all the foreigners and was notafraid of the foreign guns, as all the gods were protecting him. PrinceTuan told me that he had witnessed this himself. A Boxer shot anotherwith a revolver and the bullet hit him, but did not harm him in theleast. Then Prince Tuan suggested that I hand these two eunuchs supposedto be Christians to the Boxer leader, which I did. I heard afterwardsthat these two eunuchs were beheaded right in the country somewhere nearhere. This chief Boxer came to the Palace the next day, accompanied byPrince Tuan and Duke Lan, to make all the eunuchs burn incense sticksto prove that they were not Christians. After that Prince Tuan alsosuggested that we had better let the chief Boxer come every day andteach the eunuchs their belief; that nearly all of Peking was studyingwith the Boxers. The next day I was very much surprised to see all myeunuchs dressed as Boxers. They wore red jackets, red turbans and yellowtrousers. I was sorry to see all my attendants discard their officialrobes and wear a funny costume like that. Duke Lan presented me witha suit of Boxer clothes. At that time Yung Lu, who was the head of theGrand Council, was ill and asked leave of absence for a month. While hewas sick, I used to send one of the eunuchs to see him every day, andthat day the eunuch returned and informed me that Yung Lu was quite welland would come to the Palace the next day, although he still had fifteendays more leave. I was puzzled to know why he should give up the balanceof his leave. However, I was very anxious to see him, as I wished toconsult him about this chief Boxer. Yung Lu looked grieved when helearned what had taken place at the Palace, and said that these Boxerswere nothing but revolutionaries and agitators. They were trying to getthe people to help them to kill the foreigners, but he was very muchafraid the result would be against the Government. I told him thatprobably he was right, and asked him what should be done. He told methat he would talk to Prince Tuan, but the next day Prince Tuan told methat he had had a fight with Yung Lu about the Boxer question, and saidthat all of Peking had become Boxers, and if we tried to turn them, theywould do all they could to kill everyone in Peking, including the Court;that they (the Boxer party) had the day selected to kill all the foreignrepresentatives; that Tung Fou Hsiang, a very conservative General andone of the Boxers, had promised to bring his troops out to help theBoxers to fire on the Legations. When I heard this I was very muchworried and anticipated serious trouble, so I sent for Yung Lu at onceand kept Prince Tuan with me. Yung Lu came, looking very much worried, and he was more so after I had told him what the Boxers were going todo. He immediately suggested that I should issue an Edict, saying thatthese Boxers were a secret society and that no one should believe theirteaching, and to instruct the Generals of the nine gates to drive allthe Boxers out of the city at once. When Prince Tuan heard this he wasvery angry and told Yung Lu that if such an Edict was issued, the Boxerswould come to the Court and kill everybody. When Prince Tuan told methis, I thought I had better leave everything to him. After he left thePalace, Yung Lu said that Prince Tuan was absolutely crazy and that hewas sure these Boxers would be the cause of a great deal of trouble. Yung Lu also said that Prince Tuan must be insane to be helping theBoxers to destroy the Legations; that these Boxers were a very commonlot, without education, and they imagined the few foreigners in Chinawere the only ones on the earth and if they were killed it would be theend of them. They forgot how very strong these foreign countries are, and that if the foreigners in China were all killed, thousands wouldcome to avenge their death. Yung Lu assured me that one foreign soldiercould kill one hundred Boxers without the slightest trouble, and beggedme to give him instructions to order General Nieh, who was afterwardskilled by the Boxers, to bring his troops to protect the Legations. Ofcourse I gave him this instruction at once, and also told him that hemust see Prince Tuan at once and Duke Lan to tell them that this wasa very serious affair and that they had better not interfere with YungLu's plans. Matters became worse day by day and Yung Lu was the only oneagainst the Boxers, but what could one man accomplish against so many?One day Prince Tuan and Duke Lan came and asked me to issue an Edictordering the Boxers to kill all the Legation people first and then allremaining foreigners. I was very angry and refused to issue this Edict. After we had talked a very long time, Prince Tuan said that this mustbe done without delay, for the Boxers were getting ready to fire on theLegations and would do so the very next day. I was furious and orderedseveral of the eunuchs to drive him out, and he said as he was goingout: 'If you refuse to issue that Edict, I will do it for you whetheryou are willing or not, ' and he did. After that you know what happened. He issued these Edicts unknown to me and was responsible for a greatmany deaths. He found that he could not carry his plans through andheard that the foreign troops were not very far from Peking. He was sofrightened that he made us all leave Peking. " As she finished sayingthis, she started to cry, and I told her that I felt very sorry for her. She said: "You need not feel sorry for me for what I have gone through;but you must feel sorry that my fair name is ruined. That is the onlymistake I have made in my whole life and it was done in a moment ofweakness. Before I was just like a piece of pure jade; everyone admiredme for what I have done for my country, but the jade has a flaw in itsince this Boxer movement and it will remain there to the end of mylife. I have regretted many, many times that I had such confidencein, and believed that wicked Prince Tuan; he was responsible foreverything. "

By the end of the third moon Her Majesty had had enough of the SeaPalace and the Court moved into the Summer Palace. This time wetravelled by boat as it was very beautiful weather. On reaching thewater-gates of the Palace we found everything just lovely and the peachblossoms were in full bloom. Her Majesty plainly showed how glad shewas to be back once more and for the time being seemed to have forgotteneverything else, even the war. 

CHAPTER TWENTY--CONCLUSION

MY second year at the Palace was very much the same as the first. Wecelebrated each anniversary and festival in the same way as before: theusual audience was held each morning by Her Majesty, after which the daywas given up to enjoyment. Amongst other things Her Majesty took greatinterest in her vegetable gardens, and superintended the planting of thedifferent seeds. When vegetables were ready for pulling, from time totime, all the Court ladies were supplied with a kind of small pruningfork and gathered in the crop. Her Majesty seemed to enjoy seeing uswork in the fields, and when the fit seized her she would come along andhelp. In order to encourage us in this work, Her Majesty would give asmall present to the one who showed the best results so we naturallydid our best in order to please her, as much as for the reward. Anotherhobby of Her Majesty's was the rearing of chickens, and a certain numberof birds were allotted to each of the Court ladies. We were supposed tolook after these ourselves and the eggs had to be taken to Her Majestyevery morning. I could not understand why it was that my chickens gaveless eggs than any of the others until one day my eunuch informed methat he had seen one of the other eunuchs stealing the eggs from my henhouse and transferring them to another, in order to help his mistress tohead the list. 

Her Majesty was very particular not to encourage untidyness orextravagance among the Court ladies. On one occasion she told me to opena parcel which was lying in her room. I was about to cut the string whenHer Majesty stopped me and told me to untie it. This I managed to doafter a lot of trouble, and opened the parcel. Her Majesty next made mefold the paper neatly and place it in a drawer along with the string sothat I would know where to find it should it be wanted again. From timeto time Her Majesty would give each of us money for our own privateuse and whenever we wanted to buy anything, say flowers, handkerchiefs, shoes, ribbons, etc. , these could be bought from the servant girls whoused to make them in the Palace and we would enter each item in a smallnote book supplied by Her Majesty for the purpose. At the end of eachmonth Her Majesty examined our accounts and in case she considered thatwe had been extravagant she would give us a good scolding, while on theother hand, if we managed to show a good balance she would compliment uson our good management. Thus under Her Majesty's tuition we learned tobe careful and tidy against such time as we might be called upon to lookafter homes of our own. 

About this time my father began to show signs of breaking down and askedfor permission to withdraw from public life. However, Her Majesty wouldnot hear of this and decided to give him another six months vacationinstead. It was his intention to go to Shanghai and see the familyphysician, but Her Majesty did not approve of this, maintaining thather own doctors were quite as good as any foreign doctor. These doctorstherefore attended him for some time, prescribing all kinds of differentconcoctions daily. After a while he seemed to pick up a little but wasstill unable to get about on account of having chronic rheumatism. Wetherefore again suggested that it would be better for him to see his owndoctor in Shanghai, who understood my father thoroughly, but Her Majestycould not be made to see it in that light. She said that what we wantedwas a little patience, that the Chinese doctors might be slow, but theywere sure, and she was convinced they would completely cure my fathervery soon. The fact of the matter was she was afraid that if my fatherwent to stay in Shanghai the rest of the family would want to be therewith him, which was not in her programme at all. So we decided to remainin Peking unless my father showed signs of getting worse. 

In due course the time arrived on which it had been arranged to hold theSpring Garden Party for the Diplomatic Corps, and as usual one day wasset apart for the Ministers, Secretaries and members of the variousLegations, and the following day for their wives, etc. This year veryfew guests attended the Garden Party but among those who did come wereseveral strangers. About half a dozen ladies from the Japanese Legationcame with Madame Uchida, wife of the Japanese Minister. Her Majestywas always very pleased to see this lady whom she very much admiredon account of her extreme politeness. After the usual presentation weconducted the ladies to luncheon, showed them over the Palace grounds, after which we wished them good-bye and they took their leave. Wereported everything to Her Majesty, and as usual were asked manyquestions. Among the guests there was one lady (English so far as Icould make out) dressed in a heavy tweed travelling costume, havingenormous pockets, into which she thrust her hands as though it wereextremely cold. She wore a cap of the same material. Her Majesty askedif I had noticed this lady with the clothes made out of "rice bags, " andwasn't it rather unusual to be presented at Court in such a dress. HerMajesty wanted to know who she was and where she came from. I repliedthat she certainly did not belong to any of the Legations as I wasacquainted with everybody there. Her Majesty said that whoever she wasshe certainly was not accustomed to moving in decent society as she(Her Majesty) was quite certain that it was not the thing to appear at aEuropean Court in such a costume. "I can tell in a moment, " Her Majestyadded, "whether any of these people are desirous of showing properrespect to me, or whether they consider that I am not entitled to it. These foreigners seem to have the idea that the Chinese are ignorant andthat therefore they need not be so particular as in European Society. Ithink it would be best to let it be understood for the future what dressshould be worn at the different Court Functions, and at the same timeuse a certain amount of discretion in issuing invitations. In that way Ican also keep the missionary element out, as well as other undesirables. I like to meet any distinguished foreigners who may be visiting inChina, but I do not want any common people at my Court. " I suggestedthat the Japanese custom could be followed, viz. : to issue properinvitation cards, stipulating at the foot the dress to be worn on eachparticular occasion. Her Majesty thought this would meet the case and itwas decided to introduce a similar rule in China. 

Whenever the weather permitted, Her Majesty would pass quite a lot ofher time in the open air watching the eunuchs at work in the gardens. During the early Spring the lotus plants were transplanted and she wouldtake keen interest in this work. All the old roots had to be cut awayand the new bulbs planted in fresh soil. Although the lotus grew in theshallowest part of the lake (the West side) it was necessary for theeunuchs to wade into the water sometimes up to their waists in order toweed out the old plants and set the young ones. Her Majesty wouldsit for hours on her favorite bridge (The Jade Girdle Bridge) andsuperintend the eunuchs at their work, suggesting from time to time asto how the bulbs were to be planted. This work generally took three orfour days, and the Court ladies in attendance would stand besideHer Majesty and pass the time making fancy tassels for Her Majesty'scushions, in fact doing anything so long as we did not idle. 

It was during the Spring that Yuan Shih Kai paid another visit to thePalace, and among other subjects discussed was the Russo-Japan war. Hetold Her Majesty that it was developing into a very serious affair andthat he feared China would be the principal sufferer in the long run. Her Majesty was very much upset by this news, and mentioned that she hadbeen advised by one of the censors to make a present to the Japanese ofa large quantity of rice, but had decided to take no action whatever inthe matter, which resolve Yuan Shih Kai strongly supported. 

I was still working each day translating the various newspaper reportsand telegrams relating to the war and one morning, seeing a paragraph tothe effect that Kang Yu Wei (Leader of the Reform Movement in China in1898) had arrived at Singapore from Batavia, I thought it might interestHer Majesty and so translated it along with the rest. Her Majestyimmediately became very much excited which made me feel frightened as Idid not know what could be the matter. However, she explained to me thatthis man had caused all kinds of trouble in China, that before meetingKang Yu Wei the Emperor had been a zealous adherent to the traditions ofhis ancestors but since then had plainly shown his desire to introducereforms and even Christianity into the country. "On one occasion, "continued Her Majesty, "he caused the Emperor to issue instructions forthe Summer Palace to be surrounded by soldiers so as to keep meprisoner until these reforms could be put into effect, but through thefaithfulness of Yung Lu, a member of the Grand Council, and Yuan ShillKai, Viceroy of Chihli, I was able to frustrate the plot. I immediatelyproceeded to the Forbidden City, where the Emperor was then staying andafter discussing the question with him he replied that he realized hismistake and asked me to take over the reins of government and act in hisstead. "

 (The result of this was, of course, the Edict of 1898 appointing the Empress Dowager as Regent of China. )

Her Majesty had immediately ordered the capture of Kang Yu Wei and hisfollowers, but he had managed to effect his escape and she had heardnothing further about him until I translated this report in thenewspaper. She seemed relieved, however, to know where he was, andseemed anxious to hear what he was doing. She suddenly became veryangry again and asked why it was that the foreign governments offeredprotection to Chinese political agitators and criminals. Why couldn'tthey leave China to deal with her own subjects and mind their ownbusiness a little more? She gave me instructions to keep a lookout forany further news of this gentleman and report to her immediately, but Imade up my mind that in any case, I would not mention anything about himagain and so the matter gradually died away. 

During one of our visits to the Sea Palace Her Majesty drew attentionto a large piece of vacant ground and said that it had formerly been thesite of the Audience Hall which had been destroyed by fire duringthe Boxer trouble. Her Majesty explained that this had been purely anaccident and was not deliberately destroyed by the foreign troops. Shesaid that it had long been an eyesore to her as it was so ugly, and thatshe had now determined to build another Audience Hall on the same site, as the present Audience Hall was too small to accommodate the foreignguests when they paid their respects at New Year. She thereforecommanded the Board of Works to prepare a model of the new building inaccordance with her own ideas, and submit it for her approval. Up tothat time all the buildings in the Palace Grounds were typically Chinesebut this new Audience Hall was to be more or less on the foreign planand up to date in every respect. This model was accordingly preparedand submitted to Her Majesty. It was only a small wooden model but wascomplete in every detail, even to the pattern of the windows and thecarving on the ceilings and panels. However, I never knew anything toquite come up to Her Majesty's ideas, and this was no exception. Shecriticised the model from every standpoint, ordering this room to beenlarged and that room to be made smaller: this window to be moved toanother place, etc. , etc. So the model went back for reconstruction. When it was again brought for Her Majesty's inspection everybody agreedthat it was an improvement on the first one, and even Her Majestyexpressed great satisfaction. The next thing was to find a name for thenew building and after serious and mature consideration it was decidedto name it Hai Yen Tang (Sea Coast Audience Hall). Building operationswere commenced immediately and Her Majesty took great interest in theprogress of the work. It had already been decided that this AudienceHall was to be furnished throughout in foreign style, with the exceptionof the throne, which, of course, retained its Manchu appearance. HerMajesty compared the different styles of furniture with the catalogueswe had brought with us from France and finally decided on the LouisFifteenth style, but everything was to be covered with Imperial Yellow, with curtains and carpets to match. When everything had been selectedto Her Majesty's satisfaction, my mother asked permission to defray theexpense herself and make a present of this furniture. This Her Majestyagreed to and the order was accordingly placed with a well-known Parisfirm from whom we had purchased furniture when in France. By the timethe building was completed the furniture had arrived, and it was quicklyinstalled. Her Majesty went to inspect it and, of course, had to findfault as usual. She didn't seem at all pleased with the result of theexperiment and said that after all a Chinese building would have beenthe best as it would have had a more dignified appearance. However, thething was finished and it was no use finding fault now, as it could notbe changed. 

During the Summer months I had plenty of leisure time and devoted aboutan hour each day to helping the Emperor with his English. He was a mostintelligent man with a wonderful memory and learned very quickly. Hispronunciation, however, was not good. In a very short time he was ableto read short stories out of an ordinary school reader and could writefrom dictation fairly well. His handwriting was exceptionally fine, while in copying old English and ornamental characters, he was anexpert. Her Majesty seemed pleased that the Emperor had taken up thisstudy, and said she thought of taking it up herself as she was quitesure she would learn it very quickly if she tried. After two lessons shelost patience, and did not mention the matter again. 

Of course these lessons gave me plenty of opportunity to talk with HisMajesty, and on one occasion he ventured the remark that I didn't seemto have made much progress with Her Majesty in the matter of reform. I told him that many things had been accomplished since my arrival atCourt, and mentioned the new Audience Hall as an instance. He didn'tappear to think that anything worth talking about, and advised me togive up the matter altogether. He said when the proper time arrived--ifit ever did arrive--then I might be of use, but expressed grave doubtson the subject. He also enquired about my father and I told him thatunless his health improved very soon it would be necessary for us toleave the Court for a while at any rate. He replied that although heshould very much regret such a necessity, he really believed that itwould be for the best. He said he felt certain that I should never beable to settle down permanently to Court life after spending so manyyears abroad, and for his part would put no obstacles in the way of myleaving the Court if I desired to do so. 

Her Majesty had given me permission to visit my father twice everymonth, and everything appeared to be going along nicely until one dayone of Her Majesty's servant girls told me that Her Majesty was tryingto arrange another marriage for me. At first I did not take any noticeof this, but shortly afterwards Her Majesty informed me that everythingwas arranged and that I was to be married to a certain Prince whomshe had chosen. I could see that Her Majesty was waiting for me to saysomething, so I told her that I was very much worried at that time aboutmy father and begged her to allow the matter to stand over for the timebeing at any rate. This made Her Majesty very angry, and she told methat she considered me very ungrateful after all she had done for me. Ididn't reply, and as her Majesty did not say anything more at the time, I tried to forget about it. However, on my next visit home, I told myfather all about it, and as before he was strongly opposed to such amarriage. He suggested that on my return to the Palace I should laythe whole matter before Li Lien Ying, the head eunuch, and explain myposition, for if anybody could influence Her Majesty, he was the one. I, therefore, took the first opportunity of speaking to him. At first heappeared very reluctant to interfere in the matter, and said he thoughtI ought to do as Her Majesty wished, but on my stating that I had nodesire to marry at all, but was quite willing to remain at Court inmy present position, he promised to do his best for me. I never heardanything further about my marriage, either from Her Majesty or Li LienYing, and therefore concluded that he had been able to arrange thematter satisfactorily. 

The Summer passed without anything further important occurring. Duringthe eighth moon the bamboos were cut down and here again the Courtladies were called upon to assist, our work being to carve designsand characters on the cut trees, Her Majesty assisting. These wereafterwards made into chairs, tables and other useful articles for HerMajesty's teahouse. During the long Autumn evenings Her Majesty wouldteach us Chinese history and poetry and every tenth day would put usthrough an examination in order to find out how much we had learned, prizes being awarded for proficiency. The younger eunuchs also took partin these lessons and some of their answers to Her Majesty's questionswere very amusing. If Her Majesty were in a good humor she would laughwith the rest of us, but sometimes she would order them to be punishedfor their ignorance and stupidity. However, as they were quiteaccustomed to being punished they did not seem to mind very much andforgot all about it the next minute. 

As Her Majesty's seventieth birthday was approaching the Emperorproposed to celebrate this event on an unusually grand scale, but HerMajesty would not give her consent to this proposal on account of thewar trouble, for fear people might comment on it. The only difference, therefore, between this birthday and former ones was that Her Majestygave presents to the Court, in addition to receiving them. Theseincluded the bestowal of titles, promotions and increases in salary. Among the titles conferred by Her Majesty, my sister and myself receivedthe title of Chun Chu Hsien (Princess). These titles, however, wereconfined to members of the Court, and were granted specially by theEmpress Dowager. Similar promotions to outside officials were alwaysconferred by the Emperor. It was proposed to hold the celebrations inthe Forbidden City as it was more suited for such an importantevent. However, Her Majesty did not like this idea at all, and gaveinstructions that the Court should not be moved until three days beforethe 10th of the tenth moon, the date of her birthday. This entailed alot of unnecessary work as it necessitated decorating both the SummerPalace and the Forbidden City. Everything was hurry and bustle. To addto this, it snowed very heavily during the few days previous to thetenth. Her Majesty was in a very good mood. She was very fond of beingout in the snow and expressed a wish to have some photographs takenof herself on the hillside. So my brother was commanded to bring hiscamera, and took several very good pictures of Her Majesty. 

On the seventh day the Court moved into the Forbidden City and thecelebrations commenced. The decorations were beautiful; the Courtyardsbeing covered with glass roofs to keep out the snow. The theatres werein full swing each day. The actual ceremony, which took place on thetenth, did not differ in any respect from previous ones. Everythingpassed off smoothly, and the Court removed again into the Sea Palace. 

While at the Sea Palace we received news that my father's condition wasbecoming serious, and he again tendered his resignation to Her Majesty. She sent her eunuchs to find out exactly what the matter was, and onlearning that he was really very ill, accepted his resignation. HerMajesty agreed that it might be better for him to go to Shanghai and seeif the foreign physicians could do him any good. She said she supposedit would be necessary for my mother to accompany him to Shanghai, butdid not consider it serious enough to send my sister and myself alongalso. I tried to explain that it was my duty to go along with him as hemight be taken worse and die before I could get down to see him again, and I begged Her Majesty to allow me to go. She offered all kinds ofobjections but eventually, seeing that I was bent on going, she said:"Well, he is your father, and I suppose you want to be with him, so youmay go on the understanding that you return to Court as soon as everpossible. " We did not get away until the middle of the eleventh moon, asHer Majesty insisted on making clothes for us and other preparationsfor our journey. Of course we could do nothing but await Her Majesty'spleasure. 

When everything was ready Her Majesty referred to her book to choose asuitable day for our departure, and fixed on the thirteenth as being thebest. We therefore left the Palace for our own house on the twelfth. We kowtowed and said good-bye to Her Majesty, thanking her for her manykindnesses during our stay with her. Everybody cried, even Her Majesty. We then went to say good-bye to the Emperor and Young Empress. TheEmperor simply shook hands and wished us "Good Luck" in English. Everybody appeared sorry to see us leave. After standing about for along time Her Majesty said it was no use wasting any more time and thatwe had better start. At the gate the head eunuch bade us good-bye andwe entered our carriage and drove to my father's house, our own eunuchsaccompanying us to the door. We found everything prepared for ourjourney, and early the next morning we took train to Tientsin wherewe just managed to catch the last steamer of the season leaving forShanghai. As it was, the water was so shallow that we ran aground on theTaku bar. 

On arrival in Shanghai my father immediately consulted his physicianwho examined him and prescribed medicine. The trip itself seemed to havedone him a lot of good. I very soon began to miss my life at Court, and, although I had many friends in Shanghai and was invited to dinnerparties and dances; still I did not seem to be able to enjoy myself. Everything seemed different to what I had been accustomed to in Pekingand I simply longed for the time when I should be able to return to HerMajesty. About two weeks after our arrival, Her Majesty sent a specialmessenger down to Shanghai to see how we were getting along. He broughtus many beautiful presents and also a lot of medicine for my father. Wewere very glad to see him. He informed us that we were missed very muchat Court and advised us to return as soon as it was possible for us todo so. As my father began to show signs of improvement he suggested thatthere was no further need for me to stay in Shanghai, and thought itbetter that I should return to Peking and resume my duties at Court. Itherefore returned early in the New Year. The river was frozen and I hadto travel by boat to Chinwantao, from thence by rail to Peking. It was amost miserable journey and I was very glad when it was over. Her Majestyhad sent my eunuchs to the station to meet me and I at once proceededto the Palace. On meeting Her Majesty we both cried again by way ofexpressing our happiness. I informed her that my father was progressingfavorably and that I hoped to be able to remain with her permanently. 

I resumed my previous duties, but this time I had neither my sister fora companion nor my mother to chat with and everything appeared changed. Her Majesty was just the same, however, and treated me most kindly. Still, I was not comfortable, and heartily wished myself back againin Shanghai. I stayed at the Court, going through pretty much the samedaily routine as before until the second moon (March 1905), when Ireceived a telegram summoning me to Shanghai as my father had becomeworse, and was in a critical condition and wished to see me. I showedHer Majesty the telegram and waited for her decision. She commenced bytelling me that my father was a very old man, and therefore his chancesof recovery were not so great as if he were younger, finally winding upby telling me that I could go to him at once. I again wished everybodygood-bye, fully expecting to return very soon; but this was not to be. I found my father in a very dangerous condition, and after a lingeringillness, he died on the 18th of December, 1905. Of course we went intomourning for one hundred days which in itself prevented my returning tothe Court. 

While in Shanghai I made many new friends and acquaintances andgradually began to realize that after all, the attractions of Court lifehad not been able to eradicate the influences which had been brought tobear upon me while in Europe. At heart I was a foreigner, educated in aforeign country, and, having already met my husband the matter was soonsettled and I became an American citizen. However, I often look back tothe two years I spent at the Court of Her Majesty, the Empress Dowagerof China, the most eventful and happiest days of my girlhood. 

Although I was not able to do much towards influencing Her Majesty inthe matter of reform, I still hope to live to see the day when Chinashall wake up and take her proper place among the nations of the world.