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diff --git a/old/54401-0.txt b/old/54401-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 43c7f25..0000000 --- a/old/54401-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10879 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Woman In China, by Mary Gaunt - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: A Woman In China - Illustrated - -Author: Mary Gaunt - -Release Date: March 21, 2017 [EBook #54401] -Last Updated: March 12, 2018 - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WOMAN IN CHINA *** - - - - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by the Internet Archive - - - - - - - -A WOMAN IN CHINA - -By Mary Gaunt - -Author Of “Alone In West Africa,” “The Uncounted Cost,” Etc. - -London: T. Werner Laurie Ltd. - -1915 - - - - - -A WOMAN IN CHINA - - - - -CHAPTER I--ACROSS THE OLD WORLD - -{001} - -_My grandmother's curios--Camels and elephants--Dr Morrison--Chinese -in Australia--Feared for his virtues--Racial animosity--Great Northern -Plain--A city of silence--A land of exile--The Holy Sea--Frost -flowers on a birch forest--Chaos at Manchuria and Kharbin--Japanese -efficiency--A Peking dust storm._ - -|When I was a little girl and was taken to see my grandmother, she set -out for my amusement, to be looked at but not touched by little fingers, -various curios brought home by my grandfather from China in the old days -when he was a sailor in the Honourable East India Company's service; -beautifully carved ivory chessmen, a model of a Chinese lady's foot -about three inches long, dainty mother-of-pearl counters made in the -likeness of all manner of strange beasts, lacquer boxes and ivory balls; -models of palankeens in ivory, and fans that seemed to me, brought up -in the somewhat rough-and-ready surroundings of a new country, dreams -of loveliness. The impression was made, I felt the fascination of China, -the fascination of a thing far beyond me. Like the pretty things, so out -of my reach it seemed that I did not even add it to the list of places I -intended to {002}visit when I grew up, for even then my great desire -was to travel all over the world; I was born with the wander fever in -my blood, but unfortunately with small means of satisfying it. As I grew -older I used to read every travel book I could get hold of, and later -on when I began to live by my pen I got into the habit of gauging my -chances of seeing a country by the number of books written about it. -China, judged by this standard, fell naturally into the place assigned -to it by my grandmother's curios; for from the days of Marco Polo -men have gone up and down the land, painfully, sorrowfully, gladly, -triumphantly, and at least half of them seem to have put pen to paper to -describe what they have seen. Was it likely there would be anything left -for me to write about? - -Then one bright Sunday morning when the sun was shining, as he does -occasionally shine in England, the spirit moved me to go down the -Brighton line to spend a day with Parry Truscott, a fellow storyteller. -The unkind Fates have seen to it that I live alone, and arriving at -Victoria that bright morning I felt amiably disposed and desirous -of exchanging ideas with somebody. In the carriage I had chosen were -already seated two nicely dressed women, and coming along the platform -was a porter with hot-water bottles. The morning was sharp and the -opportunity was not to be lost, I turned to them and asked them if they -would not like a hot-water bottle. Alas! Alas! Those women towards whom -I had felt so friendly evidently did not reciprocate my feelings. In -chilly accents calculated to discourage the boldest--and I am not the -boldest--they gave me to understand that they required neither the -hot-{003}water bottle nor my conversation, so, snubbed, I retired to the -other side of the carriage and amused myself with my own thoughts and -the sunshine and shadow on the green country through which we were -passing. Half the journey was done when I saw, to my astonishment, a -sight that is not often seen in the Sussex lanes, a train of camels and -elephants marching along. It seemed to me something worth seeing, and -entirely forgetting that I had been put in my place earlier in the -morning I cried, “Oh, look! Look! Camels and elephants!” - -Those two ladies were a credit to the English nation. They bore -themselves with the utmost propriety. What they thought of me I can only -dimly guess, but they never even raised their eyes from their papers. Of -course the train rushed on, the camels and elephants were left behind, -and there was nothing to show they had ever been there. Then I regret -to state that I lay back and laughed till I cried, and whenever I felt -a little better the sight of those two studious women solemnly reading -their papers set me off again. When I got out at Hassocks they did -not allow themselves to look relieved, that perhaps would have been -expressing too much emotion before a stranger who had behaved in so -eccentric a fashion, but they literally drew their skirts around them so -that they should not touch mine and be contaminated as I passed. - -There is always more than one side to a story; how I should love to hear -the version of that journey told by those two ladies; doubtless it would -not in the faintest degree resemble mine. And yet there really were -camels and elephants. And so it occurred to me why not go to a country -and try and {004}write about it, although many had written before. If -the gods were kind might I not find a story even in China. - -Meanwhile one of my brothers had married a sister of Dr Morrison, and I -had come into touch with the famous _Times_ correspondent, an Australian -like myself, and when he came to England he used to come and see me, and -we talked about China. When I met him again after my elephant and camel -experience I asked his opinion, would it be worth my while to go to -China? - -He was quite of opinion it would, more, he and his newly-wedded wife -gave me a cordial invitation to stay with them, and the thing was -settled. I decided to go to Peking. Accordingly, on the last day of -January in the year of Our Lord 1913, I left Charing Cross in a thick -fog for the Far East. It is a little thing to do, to get into a train -and be whirled eastward. There is nothing wonderful about it and -yet--and yet--to me it was the beginning of romance. I was bound across -the old world for a land where people had lived as a civilised people -for thousands of years before we of the West emerged from barbarism, -for a country which the new nation from which I have sprung regards with -peculiar interest. Australia has armed herself. Why? Because of China's -millions to the north. Australia has voted solid for a white Australia, -and rigidly excluded the coloured man. Why? Not because she fears the -Kanaka who helped to develop her sugar plantations, but because she -fears the yellow man and his tireless energy and his low standard of -living. - -[Illustration: 0026] - -When I was a child my father, warden of the {005}goldfield where he was -stationed, was also, by virtue of his office, protector of the Chinese; -and Heaven knows the unfortunate Chinese, industrious, hardworking men -of the coolie class from Amoy and Canton, badly needed a protector. Many -a time have I seen an unfortunate Chinaman, cut and bleeding, come to -my father's house to claim his protection. The larrikins, as we used to -call the roughs, had stoned him for no reason that they or anyone else -could understand but only because he was a Chinaman. Now I understand -what puzzled and shocked me then, and what shocks me still. It is that -racial animosity that is so difficult to explain to the home-staying -Englishman: that animosity which is aroused because, subconsciously, the -white man knows that the yellow man, in lowering the standard of living, -will literally take away much of the bread and all chance of butter from -the community in which he has a foothold. - -Here I was going to see the land whence had come that subservient, -patient, hard-working coolie of my childhood. And the wonder of that -rush across the old world, the twelve days' railway journey that takes -us from the most modern of civilisations to the most ancient--it grew -upon me as we crossed the great northern plain--historic ground whereon -the great battles of Europe have been fought. The people in the train -were dining, supping, playing cards, sleeping, and the cities we passed -in the darkness seemed mere clusters of dancing lights, such lights as I -have seen after rain on many a hot and steamy night in West Africa. When -morning dawned we had passed Berlin and were slowly leaving the packed -civilisation behind us. A grey low {006}sky was overhead and there were -clumps of fir-trees. Dirty snow was in the hollows, and there were long, -straight roads drawn with a ruler as they are in Australia, with little -bare trees at regular intervals on either side, and then again dark fir -woods and rain everywhere. Soon we had passed the frontier and were in -Russia, and I felt I could not rush through without one glimpse of it, -so I stayed one little week in Moscow, and I shall always be glad I did, -though there, for the first time in my life, I was in a country where my -nationality did not count, and it was not a pleasant feeling. But Moscow -is the city of a dream. I arrived there at night to streets all covered -with a mantle of snow. The many lights shone clear in the keen, cold, -windless air and the sleighs drawn by sturdy little horses glided over -the white snow as silently as if they had been moving shadows. And when -morning came it was snowing. Softly, softly, fell the flakes and the -city was a city of silence, white everywhere, and when the sun came out -dazzling, sparkling white, only the cupolas of the many churches--Moscow -in the heart of holy Russia has sixteen hundred--were golden or bright -blue, or dark vivid green, for the snow that hid the brilliant roofs -could not lie on their rounded surfaces. Above the cupolas are crosses, -and from the crosses hang long chains, and ever and again on the silence -rang out the musical clang of some deep-toned bell. But it is the -silence that impresses. The bells were but incidental, trifling--the -silence is eternal. The snow fell with a hush, there was no rush nor -roar nor crash of storm, but every snowflake counted. The little sledges -were half buried in it, the drivers in their fur-edged caps {007}and -blue coats girt in at the waist with a red sash or silver embroidered -band, shook it out of their eyes and out of their great beards and -brushed it from their shoulders; in every crevice of the old grey walls -of the Kremlin it piled up. - -A dream city! A city of silence!! The snow reigned, deadening all sound -save the insistent bells that rang to the glory of God, and the cawing -of the black and grey crows that were everywhere. What have scavenger -crows to do in this beautiful city? They were there flying round -the churches, darting down the spotless roads, gathering in little -conclaves, raising their raucous voices as if in protest against the -all-embracing silence. They were the discordant note that emphasised the -harmony. - -Cold, was there ever such cold? The air crackled with it. It cut like -a knife, for all its clear purity. At every street corner I passed as I -drove to the railway station were little piles of fir logs, and little -braziers were burning, glowing red spots of brightness where the -miserable for a moment might warm their hands. - -They say one should leave Moscow in summer to cross the Siberian plain, -because then there are the flowers--such flowers--and the green trees, -and the sunshine, and you may see the road--the long and sorrowful -road--along which for years the exiles have passed. I have heard many -complaints about the weariness of the journey in winter. There is -nothing to be seen say the grumblers. For these luckless ones I have the -sincerest pity. They have missed something goodly. I suppose for most -of us life, as it unfolds itself, is a disappointing thing, full of -bitterness and--worse still--of unattainable {008}desires, but of one -thing I shall always be glad, that I crossed the Siberian plain in -the heart of winter, and saw it beneath its mantle of spotless snow. -Possibly I may never see it in summer, but its winter beauty is -something to be remembered to my dying day. - -And yet it is a land of exile. Even in childhood I had read of the -sufferings of those who have been sent there; and my conception of the -land and the reality before my eyes as I rushed through it in an express -train were always starting up in comparison with each other. A land -of exile, and yet from the plains of Eastern Russia in the west to the -frozen hills round Kharbin in the east it is a lovely land. It is a -plain, of course--a plain thousands of miles in extent, and the vastness -and the beauty of the snow-clad solitudes cry aloud in praise to the God -Who made them. Overhead, far, far away, is the great arch of the deep -blue sky, clear, bright, enticing, delightful, with no threat in its -translucent depths such as one knows is latent in tropical lands, and -below is the snow-clad plain, stretching far as the eye can see, bathed -in the brilliant sunshine. From the desert and the mountains in the -south it stretches away north to the frozen sea; and from the busy towns -of the Baltic in the west, in close touch with modern civilisation, to -the busy toiling millions of the East with their own civilisation that -comes from a dateless antiquity; and in all those thousands of miles it -changes its character but little. - -But first there were the Urals. I had looked upon them as mountains all -my life; and I saw one evening only some very minor hills, deep in snow, -with steep sides covered with a forest of fir and leafless {009}larch, -dark against the white background; next morning all trace of them was -gone, and we were in Asia. On the station platforms were men and women, -Cossacks of the west, Buriats of the centre, Tartars of the east, -Christians, Buddhists, Mohammedans; there was little difference in -outward appearance, muffled as they were against the cold which was -often thirty degrees below freezing-point. The men were in long-skirted -coats, and the women in short petticoats and high boots, so that it -would have been difficult to tell one from the other save that on their -heads the men wore fur caps, ragged, dirty, but still fur, while the -women muffled themselves in shawls still dirtier. Though they looked as -if they had not given water a thought from the day they were born, I, -the daughter of a subtropical land, could forgive them. Who could face -water in such a biting atmosphere? I sympathised but I did not desire to -go too close when we passengers bundled out for exercise on the station -platforms, at least most of us did. Some preferred bridge. - -“My God! my God!” said an old military man with unnecessary fervour. -“What are the idiots getting out for. I go one no trump, partner. Where -is my partner? The donkey 'll be slipping and hurting himself on those -slippery steps next and then our four 'll be spoilt,” and he looked -round for sympathy. - -Someone murmured something about seeing the country, but he shrivelled -him with his scorn. - -“Seeing the country! This is the eleventh time I've been across and I -never even look out if I can help myself. Know better. Oh, here you are, -{010}partner,” slightly mollified. “I've gone one no trump, and there -are two hearts against you.” - -It was a curious thing to me that most of the passengers in that -luxuriously equipped train, with every comfort for the asking save fresh -air, grumbled so continuously. It seems to be the accepted thing that -the traveller who travels luxuriously should grumble. Our old soldier -considered himself a much-injured individual when the attendants did -not know by instinct when he required lemon and tea and when -whisky-and-soda; and the breaking up of a game of auction bridge because -the tables were wanted for dinner reduced him to blackest despair. The -hordes which through the ages have swept, conquering, westwards probably -never complained, their lives were too strenuous, either they fought -and died and were at peace, or they fought and conquered, and small -discomforts were swallowed up in the joy of victory. It is left to these -modern travellers flying eastward at a rate that would have made the -old-time nomads think of witchcraft and sorcery to make a fuss about -trifles, to complain of the discomforts and hardships of the long -journey across the old world. - -I knew the country. In the days when I was a little girl studying my -map with diligence I should have counted it a joy unspeakable if I -had thought that ever I should be crossing Siberia; crossing the great -rivers, the Obi, the Yenesei and the Angara that were then as far away -and distant to me as the river that Christian crossed to gain high -Heaven; that I should watch the sledges travelling in the sunlight along -their hard, frozen surfaces, I to whom a small piece of ice on a saucer -of water, which by {011}luck we might get if there happened to be an -exceptionally cold night in the winter, was a wonder and a delight. I -suppose my joy would have' been tempered could I have known how many -years must pass over my head before this wonderful thing would happen, -for in those days five-and-twenty seemed extraordinarily old, and I -was very sure that at thirty life would not be worth living. And I have -passed that terrible age limit and have missed most things I have set my -heart upon, but still there are moments when life is well worth living. -Strange and bitter is the teaching of the years--bitter but kindly, too. - -We passed Irkutsk where East and West meet, a great city with church -spires and cupolas and buildings overlooking the broad and frozen -Angara. We raced along by leafless woods, by barren stretches of -spotless snow, and sometimes the swiftly running river was piling up the -ice in great slabs and blocks and girding and fretting at its chains, -and sometimes it was flowing free for a few miles, the only flowing -river in all the long, long journey from the old Russian capital. The -water was black, and dark, and cold, looking far colder than the ice. -The duck rose, leaving long wakes on the water; then there was a little -steam, and then a greater steam in the clear sunlight, but by the time -we reached Lake Baikal, the Fortunate Sea, the Holy Sea, the frost -had gripped the water again, the lake was a sheet of white, and the -afternoon sun shone on hills snow-clad on the eastern side. The hills, -hardly worth mentioning when one thinks of the great plain across which -we had come, are down to the very ice edge. The great lake, the eighth -in the world, is {012}but a cleft in them, and the railway track runs -on a ledge cut out of the steep hill-side overhanging its waters, waters -that were now smooth and white and hard as marble. Here and there little -jetties run out; here and there were boats, useless now, close against -them; here and there were piles of wood that would be burned up before -the thaw. It had been Siberia for days but Baikal struck the true -Siberian note. - -Here there were convicts too. Some alterations or repairs were being -carried out on the line, and drab-coloured convicts were working at -them, guarded by soldiers with fixed bayonets. Siberia! Siberia of the -story-teller! On every little point of vantage stood a soldier with high -fur cap, looking out over the men working below him, and they, splitting -wood, digging holes in the iron-bound ground, paused in their labours -and lifted their faces to the passing train. Did it speak to them of -home and culture and love and happiness and freedom, or were they merely -the brutal criminal justly punished, and the peasant, poor and simple, -here because the Government want workers, and that he cannot pay his -taxes is excuse enough. - -The sun was brilliant but it was cold, bitter cold, such cold as I had -never dreamed of. Men's breath came like solid steam, and the hair on -their faces was fringed with white hoar-frost. The earth was so hard -frozen that they were building great fires to thaw it before working; -and as the darkness fell the flames leapt yellow and red and blue, -glowing spots of colour against the whiteness and the night. And with -the night came the full moon high in the clear sky, a disc of dazzling -silver. The Providence that {013}has guided my wandering footsteps -surely gives sometimes with a lavish hand; that which I have sought -earnestly with many tears is not for me, but this still moonlight -winter's night in Siberia was mine, and all the world that we were -rushing past was fairyland. There was in it nothing sordid, nothing -unclean, nothing sorrowful. - -And it was still fairyland when I awoke in the morning to a brilliant -sun shining upon a forest of dainty, delicate, graceful birches with -every branch, every little twig, clothed in sparkling white, for the -sunbeams were caught and reflected a million times on the frost flowers, -and the whole forest was a thing of beauty and wonder that to see once -is to remember for a lifetime. It is worth living to have seen it. I -have seen great rivers and mountains and been awed by mighty forests, -I have watched the thundering surf and listened to the roar of the -tornado; but this was something quite different. Awe was not the -predominant feeling, but joy--joy that such beauty exists, that I was -alive to look upon it. Behind us lay a long, long trail. We in the -rushing train represented the onward march of a mighty civilisation, but -all around us in the brilliant winter sunshine lay the limitless plains -of Siberia, and the birch forest, and the snow, and the frost, and the -beauty that is not made with hands, that defies civilisation, that -was before civilisation, and we were moved to raise our eyes with the -psalmist and cry aloud: “How wonderful are thy works, O Lord!” - -But I did not appreciate the beauty of the winter or the moonlight when -they roused me at three o'clock in the morning at Manchuria because -my luggage {014}had to be examined at the Chinese Customs. The scanty -lights on the station, the silver moon in the heaven above lit up the -platform as we passengers of the _train de luxe_ made our way to the -baggage-room along a path between heaped-up frozen snow and ice, and -the difference in temperature between that station platform and the -carriages from which the hot air gushed was perhaps one hundred degrees. -The reek from those carriages went up to heaven, but the sudden change -was cruel. - -Our pessimistic old soldier wailed loudest. “My God! My God! this is -unbearable!” and I wondered why, because on his way through the world he -must have encountered worse things than bitter cold that has only to -be borne for a few minutes. Probably that was the reason. If he had had -something really hard to bear he would very likely have said nothing -about it. The baggage-room was confusion, worse confounded, and nobody -seemed to know what was being looked for, opium, or arms or both. This -place is the Port Said of the East, and people from all corners of the -earth were gathered round their belongings. There were groups of Chinese -with women and children and weird bundles; there were the very latest -dressing-cases and despatch-boxes from Bond Street and Piccadilly; there -was a babel of tongues, Russian and French and German and English and -the unknown tongues of Asia. China, China at last, and I was within two -days of my destination. - -And when the day dawned we had left beautiful Siberia behind, and -instead there were flat lands, deserts of stones and dry earth, with but -little snow to veil the apparent barrenness, and hills first with -{015}scanty trees, but growing more and more barren as we approached -Kharbin. It looked desolate, cold, uninviting. The land may be rich, it -is I am told, but when I passed there was no outward sign of that -richness; the covering of beautiful white was gone, there was only a -patch or two of snow here and there in the hollows, and the brilliant -sunshine was like gleams of light on steel. At Kharbin they examined our -baggage again--why I know not--and again it was chaos, chaos in the -bitter cold with the mercury many degrees below freezing-point and -screeching demons with a Mongolian type of countenance, muffled in furs -and rags that seemed the cast-off clothes of all the nations of the -earth, hauled the luggage about, pored over tickets and made entries in -books with all the elaborate effort of the unlearned, and finally marked -the unhappy boxes with great sprawling figures in tar or some such -compound. - -[Illustration: 0039] - -“Four roubles, twenty kopecks.” Why I had to pay I know not, that was -beyond me, but I was glad to get off so lightly, for had they seen fit -to ask me one hundred roubles, I should have been equally helpless. I -was thankful to get out of the cold back to my warm and evil-smelling -coupé. - -And at Ch'ang Ch'un I fairly felt I had crossed half the world, and the -oldest old world greeted me with active winter. I did not know then, as -I do now, how wonderful a thing is a snowstorm in Northern China. Here -the snow was falling, falling. We had left behind us the great spaces -of the earth, and come back to agriculture. Through the whirling -snowflakes, little low-roofed houses, surrounded with walls of stone -with little portholes for {016}guns--the Japanese block-houses, for -Japan holds Manchuria by force of arms--alternated with farmhouses, -with fences of high yellow millet stalks. The doors were marked with -brilliant red paper with inscriptions in Chinese characters upon it--a -spot of brightness amidst the prevailing white that lent tone and colour -to the picture. - -Here it was that the Russians and the sons of Nippon had been at -death-grips, and we who were in this train realised why the Eastern -nation had won. At Kharbin and at Manchuria, with things managed by -Chinese, reigned confusion. That we ever emerged with a scrap of luggage -seemed to be more by good luck than good management. From Ch'ang Ch'un -to Mukden the little men from the islands in the eastern sea run the -railway, and they know what they are about; everything is in order, and -everything marches without apparent effort. They bought this land -with their blood, and they are holding it now with the sure grip that -efficiency gives. - -At Mukden a blizzard was raging, and the old Tartar City was veiled -in snow. When the snow went, the sunshine was bleak and bright, and -everywhere, far as the eye could see, stretched tilled fields, bare of -every green thing. Flatter and flatter grew the land. It was half ice -and half earth, and the little sledges that were hitherto drawn by -ponies were now drawn by men. Once we had left behind the Siberian fir, -there was not a green thing to be seen all the way to Peking. The earth -of the fields was streaked, dark brown and lighter brown; there were -bare trees with their promise for the future; and once we were in China -proper, there were the {017}graves--graves solitary, and graves in -clusters--just neatly kept little heaps of earth piled up and pointed, -something like an ant-hill. The air was clear and sparkling, the outlook -was wide. We passed town after town, and where on the Siberian border -the names of the stations were in Russian and Chinese, and so equally -unintelligible, here in China they were in English and Chinese. - -“Do you like China?” I asked a Frenchman who sat opposite me at tiffin. - -“No,” said he frankly. “It is too English.” But he laughed when I said -that naturally I considered that a distinct point in the Chinaman's -favour. - -A wind rose, and it was as if the brown earth were literally lifted into -the air. Everything was smothered in a dust storm. The atmosphere -was heavy as a London fog, a fog that had been dried by some freezing -process. The air was full of dry brown particles that shrivelled the -skin, and parched the lips, and made me weigh in my mind the respective -merits of a soft, moist air, and a clear and sparkling one. I had left -London in a yellow fog that veiled the tops of the houses, and lent an -air of mystery to the street in the near distance, I arrived at Peking -in a typical North China dust storm. We came through the wall, the wall -of the Chinese city, that until I had seen the Tartar wall looked grey, -and grim, and stern, and solid, and I wondered at the curved tiled -roofs, and the low houses, and the great bare spaces that go to make up -the city. - -The East at last, the Far East! All across the old world I had come; and -here on a bitter cold February afternoon, with a wild wind blowing, the -train drew up outside the Tartar wall, the wall that {018}Kublai Khan -and the Ming Emperors built in the capital city of the civilisation that -was old when the Roman legions planted their eagles in the marshes of -the Thames. I had reached China, the land of blue skies and of sunshine; -the land of desperate poverty and of wonderful wealth; the land of -triumph, and of martyrdom, and of mystery. What was it going to hold for -me? - - - - -CHAPTER II--A CITY OF THE AGES - -{019} - -_Chien Men Railway Station--Driver Chow--“Urgent speed in high -disdain”--Peking dust storm--Joys of a bath--The glories of -Peking--The Imperial City--The Forbidden City--Memorial arches--The -observatory--The little Tartar princess--Life in the streets--Street -stalls--A mercenary marriage--Courtly gentlemen._ - -|I looked out of the carriage window as the train ran through the -Chinese city on its way to the Chien Men railway station, and wondered -what the future was going to be like, and I wondered aloud. - -“How will I get on?” - -Opposite me sat an amusing young gentleman with a ready tongue. - -“Oh you'll be all right,” said he. “The Chinese 'll like you because -you're fat and o----” and then he checked himself seeing, I suppose, the -dawning wrath in my eyes. The Chinese admire fat people and they respect -the old, but I had not been accustomed to looking upon myself as old -yet, though I had certainly seen more years than he had, and as for -fat--well I had fondly hoped my friends looked upon it as a pleasing -plumpness. With these chastening remarks sinking into my soul, we rolled -into the railway station. - -The railways in China, with a few exceptions, have been built by the -English or French--mostly {020}by the English--and are managed to a -great extent on European lines, so that arriving at the railway station -in Peking does not differ very much from arriving at any other great -terminus, save for the absence of cabs; but I imagine there must be -differences, and that those who run the lines have little difficulties -to contend with that would not occur on the London and North Western for -example. - -“Dear Sir,”--wrote a stationmaster once to the locomotive -superintendent--“I have, with many tears, to call your attention to your -driver, Chow, who holds urgent speed in high disdain.” - -The locomotive superintendent, without any tears, investigated the -charge against this driver, Chow. The line was worked on the staff -system. No driver could leave a station without giving up the staff he -had brought in, and receiving the corresponding one for the next stretch -of line. The staff--to follow the directions--is to be handed to the -driver by the stationmaster, but the stationmaster on this, and I expect -on many other occasions, for the Chinese are past-masters in the art of -delegating work to someone else, had handed the staff to a coolie and -gone about his pleasure. Now Chow evidently had a grudge against him, -for, I fear me, no one believed in his altruism. He insisted on the -strict letter of the law and declined to take the staff until it was -handed to him by the important man himself, and he kept the whole train -waiting, while that worthy was searched for, and hauled out of the -particular gambling-house he most affected. When the gentleman appeared, -furious and angry, on the platform, Chow calmly lifted up his staff to -effect {021}an exchange, and he swore on investigation he had forgotten -that the end the stationmaster received had been reposing for all the -long wait upon the nearly red-hot boiler! That the stationmaster burnt -his fingers is a mild statement of the case. - -There was a wild wind blowing when I stepped out of the train and looked -around me at the frowning walls, at least I looked as much as I could, -for the day was bitterly cold, and most of the ground was in the air. -A London fog was nothing to it, that is soft and still and filthy, this -was hard and gritty, moving fast and equally filthy, and every one of -the passengers was desperately anxious to exchange the bleak railway -station for the warmth and comfort and cleanliness to be found between -four walls. - -I was just as anxious as anybody else, but by the time I had collected -my luggage the awful facts were borne in on me that all the people with -whom I had made friends on the way across, were rapidly departing, and -that there was no one to meet me. Peking was wonderful, I knew it was -wonderful; there were such walls as I had never even dreamt of, towering -above me, but I was not able to rise above the fact that I was in a -strange city, among quaint-looking people who spoke an unknown tongue, -and that I did not know where to go. And the Morrisons' invitation had -been most cordial. I had rejected all offers of help, because I was so -sure someone from their house would be there to meet me, now I seized -the last remaining passenger who could speak a little Chinese, and, with -his help, got a hand-cart for my gear, drawn by two ragged men, and -a rickshaw for myself--this man haulage, this {022}cheapness of human -labour, made me realise more quickly than anything else could have -done, that I had really arrived in the Eastern world--and after a little -debate with myself I started for Dr Morrison's. I had been asked to stay -there, and I felt it would be rude to go to the hotel, but as we -drove through the streets I thought--as much as the dust, the filthy -dust--that the violent gusts of wind were blowing in my face would -allow--not of the wonders of this new world upon which I was entering, -but of how I should announce myself to these people who apparently were -not expecting me. I had such a lot of luggage too! - -[Illustration: 0049] - -At last the coolies stopped opposite a door guarded by two stone lions, -and as I got out of my rickshaw, entered the porch, and stood outside -a little green wicket gate, the doorkeeper stepped out of his room and -looked at me. He was clad all in blue cotton and he had an impassive -face and just enough English for a doorkeeper. - -No, Missie was not at home, he announced calmly. “Master?” I asked -frantically, but he shook his head, Master was out too. Here was a -dilemma. I would have gone straight to the hotel I had discovered Peking -boasted, but I feared they might think it rude. I made him understand I -would come in and wait a little, and my luggage, my dilapidated luggage, -for Kharbin and Manchuria had been hard on it, was carried into the -courtyard of the first Chinese house I had ever seen. But I wasn't -thinking of sight-seeing then; I was wondering what I should do. -I questioned the No. 1 boy, as I subsequently found he was, a -pleasant-faced little man in a long blue coat or dress, whichever -{023}you please to call it, and a little round silk cap suppressing -his somewhat wild hair. I learned afterwards that some students, -enthusiastic for the new regime, had caught him the day before and shorn -off his queue with no skilful hands. It was his opinion that Missie -was not expecting a guest, but he suggested I should come inside and -have-some tea. The thought of tea was distinctly comforting, and so -was his attitude. It suggested that unexpected guests were evidently -received with hospitality, and dirty as I felt myself to be, I went in -and sat down to a meal of tea and cakes. - -“I makee room ready chop chop,” announced the boy, and I drank tea and -ate cakes, wondering whether I ought not to stop him, and say he had -better wait till his mistress came home. And I felt so horribly dirty, -too. Then there came in a lady who also looked at me with surprise. - -She had come to tea with Mrs Morrison, and she was quite sure Mrs -Morrison was expecting no guest. This was awful. I became so desperate -that nothing seemed to matter, and I went on eating cake and drinking -tea till presently the No. 1 boy came in again, and calmly announced: - -“Barf ready.” - -And I had just been told that my hostess did not expect me! - -I looked at the lady sitting opposite me, I looked at the boy, and I -considered my very dirty and dishevelled self. I had not even seen a -bath since I left Moscow. I had come through the Peking streets in -a Peking dust storm, and I felt a bath was a temptation not to be -resisted, wherever that bath was offered; so I arose and followed the -boy, and {024}presently Mrs Morrison, coming into her own courtyard, was -confronted by a heap of strange luggage, and a boy standing over it with -a feather duster, no mere feather duster could have coped with the dirt -upon it, but a Chinese servant would attack a hornet's nest with one; -it is his badge of office. He looked up at her and remarked, in that -friendly and conversational manner with which the Chinese servant makes -the wheels of life go smoothly for his Missie when he has her alone. - -“One piecey gentleman in barf!” - -She came and knocked at the bedroom door when I was doing my hair and -feeling much more able to face the world, and made me most cordially -welcome, and, when I was fully dressed and back in the drawing-room, Dr -Morrison appeared, and said he was glad to see me, and no one mentioned -that my arrival had been unexpected, till a week later, when the letter -I had written saying by what train I was coming, turned up. - -I stayed with Dr Morrison and his pretty young wife for close on a -fortnight, and they gave me most kindly hospitality, and not only did I -view the wonders of Peking, make some acquaintances and friends, but saw -just a little of the peculiarities of Chinese servants. They are good, -there is no gainsaying it, but sometimes they did surprise me. Dr -Morrison has a secretary, young and slim and clever, who in the early -days of our acquaintanceship was wont very kindly to come over and help -me in the important matter of fastening up dresses at the back. One -evening, being greatly in need of her assistance, I sent across the -courtyard to her, and the startled young lady was calmly informed by -{025}a bland and smiling boy as if it were the most natural thing in the -world: - -“One piecey gentleman wanchee in he's bedroom.” - -At first I don't think I appreciated Peking. It left me cold, and my -heart sank, for I had come to write about it, to gain material perhaps -for a novel, and this most certainly is a truth, you cannot write well -about a place unless you either love or hate it. Still, I have always -had a great distaste for dashing through a country like an American -tourist, and so I settled down at the Wagons Lits Hotel, surely the most -cosmopolitan hotel in the world. - -And then by slow degrees my eyes were opened, and I saw. Blind, blind, -how could I have been so blind? It makes me troubled. Have other good -things been offered me in life? And have I turned away and missed them? -The wonder of what I have seen in Peking never palls, it grows upon me -daily. - -“Walk about Zion and go round about her... consider her palaces that ye -may tell it to the generation following.” So chanted the psalmist, not -so much, perhaps, for the sake of future generations, but because her -beauty and charm so filled his soul that his lips were forced to song. -“Tell the towers thereof, mark ye well her bulwarks.” Far back in the -ages, a nation great and civilised on the eastern edge of the plain -that stretches half across the world, builded themselves a mighty -city. Peking first came into being when we Western nations, who pride -ourselves upon our intense civilisation, were but naked savages, hunters -and nomads, and she, spoiled and sacked and looted, {026}taking fresh -masters, and absorbing them, Chinese and Tartar, Ming and Manchu, has -endured even unto the present day. To-day, the spirit of the West -is breathing over her and she responds a little, ever so little, and -murmurs of change, yet she remains the same at heart as she has been -through the ages. How should she change? She is wedded to her past, she -can no more be divorced from it than can the morning from the evening. - -There is something wonderful and antique about any walled city, but a -walled city like Peking stands alone. The very modern railway comes -into the Chinese City through an archway in the wall, and the railway -station, the hideous modern railway station, lies just outside the great -wall of the Tartar City. There are three cities in Peking, indeed for -the last few years there have been four--four distinct cities. There is -the Imperial City, enclosed in seven miles of pinkish red wall, close on -twenty feet high, and in the Imperial City, the very heart of it, behind -more pinkish red walls, is the Forbidden City, where dwell the remnant -of the Manchu Dynasty, the baby emperor and his guardians, the women, -the eunuchs, the attendants that make up such a gathering as waited in -bygone days on Darius, King of the Medes, or Ahasuerus, King of Babylon. -Here there are spacious courtyards and ancient temples and palaces, and -audience halls with yellowish-brown tiled roofs, extensive lakes, where -multitudes of wild duck, flying north for the summer, or south for the -winter, find a resting-place, watch-towers and walls, and tunnelled -gateways through those walls. When through the ages the greatest artists -of a nation have been giving their minds to {027}the beautifying of a -city, the things of beauty in that city are so numerous that it seems -impossible for one mind to grasp them, to realise the wonder and the -charm, especially when that charm is exotic and evasive. - -The Imperial City, all round the Forbidden City, consists of a network -of narrow streets and alleys lined with low buildings with windows of -delicate lattice-work, and curved tiled roofs. Here, hidden away in -silent peaceful courtyards shaded by gnarled old trees, are temples -guarded by shaven priests in faded red robes. Their hangings are torn -and faded, the dust lies on their altars, and the scent of the incense -is stale in their courts, for the gods are dead; and yet because the -dead are never forgotten in China--China that clings to her past--they -linger on. Here are shops, low one-storied shops, with fronts richly -carved and gilded, streets deep in mud or dust, narrow alley-ways and -high walls with mysterious little doors in them leading into secluded -houses, and all the clatter and clamour of a Chinese city, laden -donkeys, mules and horses, rickshaws from Japan, glass broughams weirdly -reflecting the glory of modern London, and blue, tilted Peking carts -with studded wheels, {028}such as have been part and parcel of the Imperial -City for thousands of years, all the life of the city much as it is -outside the pinkish red walls, only here and there are carved pillars -and broad causeways that, if the stones could speak, might tell a tale -of human woe and Human weariness, of joy and magnificence, that would -surpass any told of any city in the world. - -And outside the Imperial City, hemming it in, in a great square fourteen -miles round, is the Tartar City with splendid walls. Outside that -again, forming a sort of suburb, lies to the south the Chinese City with -thirteen miles of wall enclosing not only its teeming population, but -the great open spaces and parks of the Temple of Heaven and the Temple -of Agriculture. But though the Tartar City and the Chinese City are -distinct divisions of Peking, walled off from each other, all difference -between the people has long ago disappeared. The Tartars conquered the -Chinese, and the Chinese, patient, industrious, persistent, drew the -Tartars to themselves. But still the walls that divided them endure. - -The Tartar City is crossed by broad highways cutting each other at right -angles, three run north and south, and three run east and west, they are -broad and are usually divided into three parts, the centre part being a -good, hard, well-tended roadway, while on either side the soil is loose, -and since the streets are thronged, the side ways are churned up in -the summer into a slough that requires some daring to cross, and in the -winter--the dry, cold rainless winter, the soil is ground into a powdery -dust that the faintest breeze raises into the air, and many of the -breezes of Northern China are by no means faint. The authorities try to -grapple with the evil--at regular intervals are stationed a couple of -men with a pail of muddy water, which with a basket-work scoop they -distribute lavishly in order to try and keep down the rising dust. -But the dust of Peking is a problem beyond a mere pail and scoop. This -spattering of water has about as much effect upon it as a thimbleful of -water flung on a raging fiery furnace. - -[Illustration: 0057] - -Still, in spite of the mud and the dust, the streets {029}are not -without charm. They are lined with trees; indeed I think no city of its -size was ever better planted. When once one has realised how treeless -is the greater part of China, this is rather surprising. For look which -way you will from the wall in the summer and autumn, you feel you -might be looking down upon a wood instead of a city; the roofs of the -single-storied houses are hidden by the greenery, and only here and -there peeps out the tiled roof of a temple or hall of audience with the -eaves curving upwards, things of beauty against the background of green -branches. Curiously enough it is only from the walls that Peking -has this aspect. Once in the network of alley-ways it seems as if a -wilderness of houses and shops were crowding one on top of the other, as -if humanity were crushing out every sign of green life. This is because -there is to all things Chinese two sides. There is the life of the -streets, mud-begrimed, dusty, seething with humanity, odoriferous, -ragged, dirty, patient, hardworking; and there is a hidden life shut -away in those networks of narrow alley-ways. - -There is many a gateway between two gilded shop fronts, some black -Chinese characters on a red background set out the owner's name -and titles, and, passing through, you are straightway admitted into -courtyard after courtyard, some planted with trees, some with flowering -plants in pots--because of the cruel winter all Chinese gardens in the -north here are in pots, sometimes with fruit-trees thick with blossom -or heavy with fruit, and in the paved courtyards, secluded, retired as -a convent, you find the various apartments of a well-arranged Chinese -house; there are shady verandas, and dainty lattice-work {030}windows -looking out upon miniature landscapes with little hills and streams and -graceful bridges crossing the streams. But only a favoured few may see -these oases. For the majority Peking must be the wide-open boulevards -and narrow hu t'ungs, fronted by low and highly ornamental houses, -and shops so close together that there is no more room for a garden or -growing green life than there is in Piccadilly. True there are trees in -these boulevards, in Morrison Street, in Ha Ta Men Street, in the street -of Eternal Repose that cuts them at right angles, but they would be but -small things in the mass of buildings were it not for the courtyards of -the private houses and temples that are hidden behind. - -There are, too, in the streets p'ia lous or memorial arches, generally -of three archways with tiled roofs of blue or green or yellow rising -in tiers one above the other, put up in memory of some deed the Chinese -delight to honour. And what the Chinese think worthy of honour, and what -the Westerner delights to honour are generally as far apart, I find, -as the Poles. In Ha Ta Men Street, however, there is a p'ia lou all of -white marble, put up by the last Manchu Emperor in memory of gallant -Baron von Kettler, done to death in the Boxer rising, but there, I am -afraid, Chinese appreciation was quickened by European force. - -We are apt to think that European influence in China is quite a thing of -yesterday, that Baron von Kettler was the first man of note who perished -in the inevitable conflict, and yet, when I looked at the eastern wall -of the city, I was reminded, with a start, that European influence dates -long before {031}the Boxer time, long before the days of the Honourable -East India Company, and many must have been the martyrs. There on the -eastern wall stands the observatory, and clear-cut against the bright -blue sky are astronomical instruments with dragons and strange beasts -upon them. They were placed there by the Jesuits in the middle of -the seventeenth century, and I know that those priests could not have -attained so much influence without a bitter baptism of blood. They stand -out as landmarks, those orbs and astrolabes, up and down the wall, even -as they have come down through the centuries; monuments, as enduring as -any Chinese p'ia lou, of faith and suffering; but the Jesuits were not -the first to place astronomical instruments there. The Chinese were not -barbarians by any means, though by some curious freak we Westerners have -passed them in the race for civilisation, and, as long ago as the days -of Kublai Khan, they had an observatory here by the wall. On the -ground below, in a tree-shaded courtyard, there is an astrolabe with a -beautiful bronze dragon for a stand, the dust-laden air of Peking has -polished and preserved it, so that I can see but little difference -between it and the newer instruments on the platform above--newer and -yet two hundred and fifty years old. - -And beyond the observatory in the north-east corner of the city is the -Lama Temple, a temple with picturesque, yellowish-brown tiled roofs and -spacious courtyards, in which are quaint old gnarled trees, and building -after building in that curious state that is part beautiful, part -slovenly decay, ruled over by hundreds of shaven, yellow-robed monks -among whom, they say, it is not safe for a {032}woman to go by herself. -There is the Temple of Confucius, with surely the most peaceful -courtyard in the world, and there are other temples, temples with -courtyards and weird, twisted coniferous trees in them that are hundreds -of years old, pagodas, and bells, and towers, and to each and all is -attached many a story. - -[Illustration: 0063] - -Overlooking the great causeway that runs along in front of the Forbidden -City, west past the south main gate, are two towers, one to the north in -the Forbidden City, and one to the south without its walls; and of these -two towers they tell a story of tenderness and longing. Hundreds of -years ago, when the Tartars were first subject to the Ming Emperors, -part of their tribute had to be one of their fairest princesses, who -became a member of the Emperor's harem. - -The poor little girl's inclinations were not considered, not even now -is the desire of a woman considered in China, and the little Tartar girl -was bound to suffer for her people. She might or might not please the -Emperor, but whether she did or not the position of one who might share -the Emperor's bed was so high that she might never again hold communion -with her own kin. And then there came one little Tartar princess, who, -finding favour with her lord, summoned courage to tell him of her love -and longing. But there are some rules that not even the mighty Emperor -of China may abrogate, and he could not permit her ever again to mingle -with the common herd. One thing only could he do, and that he did. He -built the northern tower looking over the causeway, and the southern -tower on the other side. On the one tower the poor “lest we forget.” - {033}little secondary wife, lonely and weighted by her high estate, -might stand so that she could see her people on the other, and, though -they were too far apart for caress or spoken word, at least they could -see each other and know that all was well. - -I do not know whether many of the people who throng the streets from -morning to night, and long after night has fallen, ever give a thought -to the little Tartar princess. The shops, most of them open to the -streets, are full, and on two sides of the main roadways are set up -little stalls for the sale of trifles. Curiously enough, and I suppose -it denotes poverty and lack of home life, about half these stalls are -given up to the cooking and selling of eatables. In Ha Ta Men Street, -in Morrison Street, in the street of Eternal Repose, that is as if we -should say in Piccadilly, in Regent Street, and the Hay-market, and just -outside the gates in the Chinese City, on the path that runs between the -canal and the Tartar wall, you may see these same little stalls. - -Here is a man who sells tea, keeping his samovar boiling with shovelfuls -of little round hard nodules, coal dust made up with damp clay into -balls; here is another with a small frying-pan in which he is baking -great slabs of wheaten flour cakes, and selling them hot out of the pan; -here is another with an earthenware dish full of an appetising-looking -stew of meat and vegetables, with a hard-boiled egg or two floating on -top; another man has big yellow slabs of cake with great plums in them, -another has sticks of apples and all manner of fruits and vegetables -done into sweetmeats. And here as it is cooked, alfresco, do the people, -the men, for women are seldom seen at the stalls, come and buy, and -{034}eat, without other equipment than a basin, a pair of chop sticks or -a bone spoon like a ladle supplied by the vendor. - -They sell, and make, and mend Chinese footgear at these stalls too; -there is a fortune-teller, one who will read your future with a chart -covered with hieroglyphics spread out on the bare ground; there is -the letter-writer for the unlearned; there are primitive little -gaming-tables; and there are cheap, very cheap cigarettes and tobacco of -brands unknown in America or Egypt. - -I have said there is a lack of home life, and thought, like the arrogant -Westerner I am, that the Chinese do not appreciate it, but only the -other day I heard a little story that made me think that the son of Han, -like everyone else, longs for a home and someone in it he can call his -very own. - -One day a missionary teacher heard an outcry behind her, and turning, -saw a blind woman, unkempt and filthy and whining pitifully. “Oh who -will help me? Who will help me?” she cried, shrinking away from the dog -that was making dashes at the basket she carried for doles. - -The missionary called off her dog, and reassured the woman. The dog -would not hurt her. He was only interested in the food in her basket. -“Then,” said she, “I went on, because I was in a hurry, but as I went I -thought how horrible the woman looked, and that I ought to go back and -tell her, 'God is Love.'” - -So the missionary stopped and talked religion to that blind beggar, and -told her to come up to the Mission Station. She looked after her soul, -but also, out of the kindness of her heart, she looked {035}after her -body, and when the beggar was established, a woman of means with a whole -dollar--two shillings--a week, she realised that God was indeed Love, -and became a fervent Christian. - -“Clean,” I asked, being of an inquiring turn of mind, and her saviour -laughed. - -“Perhaps you wouldn't call her clean, but it is a vast improvement on -what she was.” - -The woman wasn't young, as Chinese count youth in a woman, she wasn't -good-looking, she wasn't in any way attractive, but she was a woman of -means, and presently her guardian was embarrassed by an offer from a man -of dim sight, for the hand and heart of her protégée. The missionary was -horrified. The woman was married already. The would-be bridegroom, the -prospective bride, and all their friends smiled, and seemed to think -that since her last alliance wasn't a real marriage it should be no bar. -Still the lady was firm, the woman had lived with the man for some -years and it was a marriage in her humble opinion. So the disappointed -candidates for matrimony went their way. However, a few weeks later the -woman came to her guardian with a face wreathed in smiles, “that thing,” - she said, she didn't even call him a man, that thing was dead, had died -the day before, and there was now no reason why she should not marry -again! There was no reason, and within ten days the nuptials were -celebrated, and the blind woman went to live with her new husband. - -I asked was it a success and the missionary smiled. - -“Yes, it is certainly a success, only her husband complains she eats too -much.” {036}I said there were always drawbacks when a man married for -money! - -But as a matter of fact the marriage was a great success. I saw the -happy couple afterwards, and the woman looked well-cared for and neat, -and her husband helped her up some steps quite as carefully as any man -of the West might have done. Truly the Fates were kind to the blind -beggar when they put her in the way of that missionary. She is far, -far happier probably than the bride of a higher class who goes to a -new home, and, henceforward, as long as the older woman lives, is but -a servant to her mother-in-law. True the husband had complained his new -wife ate too much. But Chinese etiquette does not seem to think it at -all the correct thing to praise anything that belongs to one. And for a -husband to show affection for his wife, whatever he may feel, is a most -extraordinary thing. The other day a woman was working in the courtyard -of a house when there came in her husband who had been away for close on -six months. Did they rush at one another as Westerners would have done? -Not at all. He crossed the courtyard to announce himself to his master, -and she went on with her work. Each carefully refrained from looking at -the other, because had they looked people might have thought they cared -for each other. And it is in the highest degree indelicate for a husband -or wife to express affection for each other. - -[Illustration: 0070] - -In truth, once my eyes were opened, I soon grew to think that, from the -point of view of the sightseer, there are few places in the world to -compare with Peking, and the greatest interest lies in the people--the -crowded humanity of the streets. Of course {037}I have seen crowded -humanity--after London how can any busy city present any novelty--and -yet, here in Peking, a new note is struck. Not all at once did I realise -it; my mind went groping round asking, what is the difference between -these people and those one sees in the streets of London or Paris? They -are a different type, but that is nothing, it is only skin deep. What -is it then? One thing cannot but strike the new-comer, and that is that -they are a peaceable and orderly crowd, more amenable to discipline, or -rather they discipline themselves better, than any crowd in the world. -Not but that there are police. At every few yards the police of the New -Republic, in dusty black bound with yellow in the winter, and in khaki -in the summer, with swords strapped to their waists, direct a traffic -that is perfectly capable of directing itself; and at night, armed with -rifles, mounted bands of them patrol the streets, the most law-abiding -streets apparently in the world. In spite of the swarms of tourists, who -are more and more pouring into Peking, a foreigner is still a thing to -be wondered at, to be followed and stared at; but there is no rudeness, -no jostling. He has only to put out his hand to intimate to the -following crowd that he wishes a little more space, that their company -is a little too odoriferous, and they fall back at once, only to press -forward again the next moment. Was ever there such a kindly, friendly -nation? And yet--and yet--What is it I find wrong? They are a highly -civilised people, from the President who reigns like a dictator, to -the humble rickshaw coolie, who guards my dress from the filth of the -street. He will hawk, and spit, but he is as {038}courtly a gentleman as -one of the bucks of the Prince Regent's Court, who probably did much the -same thing. It dawned upon me slowly. These people have achieved that -refinement we of the West have been striving for and have not attained -as yet. It is well surely to make perfection an aim in life, and yet I -feel something has gone from these people in the process of refining. -Ninety-nine times out of a hundred they can be trusted to keep order, -and the hundredth probably not all the police in the capital could hold -them. The very rickshaw coolies, when they fall out, trust to the sweet -reasonableness of argument, even though that argument Waste interminable -hours. A European, an Englishman or an American probably, comes -hectoring down the street--no other word describes his attitude, when -it is contrasted with that of the courteous Orientals round him. On the -smallest provocation, far too small a provocation, he threatens to kick -this coolie, he swings that one out of the way and, instead of being -shocked, I am distinctly relieved. Here is an exhibition of force, -restrained force, that is welcome as a rude breeze, fresh from the sea -or the mountains, is welcome in a heated, scented room. These -people, even the poorer people of the streets, are suffering from -over-civilisation, from over-refinement. They need a touch of the -primitive savage to make the red blood run in their veins. Not but that -they can be savage, so savage on occasion, the hundredth occasion when -no police could hold them, that their cruelty is such that there is -not a man who knows them who would not keep the last cartridge in his -revolver to save himself from the refinement of their tender mercies. -{039}But I did not make this reflection the first, or even the tenth -time, I walked in the streets. It was a thing that grew upon me -gradually. By the time I found I was making comparisons, the comparisons -were already made and my opinions were formed. I looked at these strange -men and women, especially at the small-footed women, and wondered what -effect the condemning of fifty per cent of the population to years of -torture had had upon the mental growth of this nation, and I raised my -eyes to the mighty walls that surrounded the city, and knew that the -nation had done wonderful things. - - - - -CHAPTER III--THE WALLS AND GATES OF BABYLON - -{040} - -_The mud walls of Kublai Khan--Only place for a comfortable -promenade--The gardens on the walls--Guarding the city from devils--The -dirt of the Chinese--The gates--The camels--In the Chien Men--The -patient Chinese women--The joys of living in a walled city--A change in -Chinese feeling._ - -|Are they like the walls and gates of Babylon, I wonder, these walls and -gates of the capital city of China. I thought so when first I saw them, -and the thought remains with me still. Behind such walls as these surely -sat Ahasuerus, King of Babylon; behind such walls as these dwelt the -thousands of serfs who toiled, and suffered, and died, that he might -be a mighty king. They are magnificent, a wonder of the world, and it -seemed to me that the men of the nation who built them must glory in -them. But all do not. I sat one day at tiffin at a friend's house, and -opposite me sat a Chinese doctor, a graduate of Cambridge, who spoke -English with the leisurely accent of the cultivated Englishman, and he -spoke of these mighty walls. - -“If I had my way,” said he, “they should be levelled with the ground. I -would not leave one stone upon another.” And I wondered why. They shut -out the fresh air, he said, but I wondered, in my own mind, whether he -did not feel that they {041}hemmed the people in, caged and held them -as it were, in an archaic state of civilisation, that it is best should -pass away. They can shut out so little air, and they can only cage and -hold those who desire to be so held. - -Kublai Khan outlined the greater part of them in mud in the thirteenth -century, and then, two hundred years after, came the Ming conquerors who -faced the great Tartar's walls with grey Chinese brick, curtailing them -a little to the north, and as the Mings left them, so are they to-day -when the foreign nations from the West, and that other Asiatic nation -from the East, have built their Legations--pledges of peace--beneath -them and, armed to the teeth, hold, against the Chinese, the Legation -Quarter and a mile of their own wall. - -Over fifty feet high are these Tartar walls, at their base they are -sixty feet through, at their top they are between forty and fifty feet -across, more than a hundred if you measure their breadth at the great -buttresses, and they are paved with the grey Chinese bricks that face -their sides. As in most Chinese cities, the top of the wall is the only -place where a comfortable promenade can be had, and the mile-long -strip between the Chien Men, the main gate, and the Ha Ta Men, the -south-eastern gate--the strip held by the Legations--is well kept; that -is to say, a broad pathway, along which people can walk, is kept smooth -and neat and free from the vegetation that flourishes on most of the -wall top. This vegetation adds greatly to its charm. The mud of the -walls is the rich alluvial deposit of the great plain on which Peking -stands, and when it has been well watered by the summer rains, a -{042}luxuriant green growth, a regular jungle, forces its way up through -the brick pavement. The top of the wall upon a cool autumn day, before -the finger of decay has touched this growth, is a truly delightful -garden. - -[Illustration: 0078] - -It was my great pleasure to walk there, for there were all manner of -flowering green shrubs and tall grasses, bound together by blooming -morning glory, its cup-shaped flowers blue, and pink, and white, and -white streaked with pink; there were even small trees, white poplar -and the ailanthus, or tree of heaven, throwing out shady branches -that afforded shelter from the rays of the brilliant sun. They are not -adequate shelter, though, in a rainstorm. Indeed it is very awkward -to be caught in a rainstorm upon the walls out of the range of the -rickshaws, as I was more than once, for in the hot weather I could never -resist the walls, the only place in Peking where a breath of fresh air -is to be found, and, since it is generally hottest before the rain, on -several occasions I was caught, returning drenched and dripping. It did -not matter as a rule, but once when I was there with a companion a more -than ordinary storm caught us. We sheltered under an ailanthus tree, and -as the wind was strong, umbrellas were useless. My companion began to -get agitated. - -“If this goes on,” said he, “I shan't be able to go out to-morrow. I -have only one coat.” He had come up from Tientsin for a couple of days. -But for me the case was much more serious. I had on a thin white muslin -that began to cling round my figure, and I thought anxiously that if it -went on much longer I should not be able to go into the {043}hotel that -day! However, the rain stopped as suddenly as it had begun, the sun came -out in all his fierceness, and before we reached the hotel I was most -unbecomingly rough dried. - -Things are ordered on the Legation wall, the pathway between the -greenery runs straight as a die, but beyond, on the thirteen miles -of wall under Chinese care, the greenery runs riot, and only a narrow -pathway meanders between the shrubs and grass, just as a man may walk -carelessly from station to station; and sometimes hidden among the -greenery, sometimes standing out against it, are here and there -great upright slabs of stone, always in pairs, relics of the old -fortifications, for surely these are all that remain of the catapults -with which of old the Chinese and Tartars defended their mighty city. - -The walls stand square, north and south, and east and west, only at the -north-west corner does the line slant out of the square a little, for -every Chinese knows that is the only sure way to keep devils out of a -city, and certainly the capital must be so guarded. Whatever I saw and -wondered at, I always came back to the walls, the most wonderful sight -of a most wonderful city, and I always found something new to entrance -me. The watch-towers, the ramps, the gates, the suggestion of old-world -story that met me at every turn. In days not so very long ago these -walls were kept by the Manchu bannermen, whose special duty it was to -guard them, and no other person was allowed upon them, under pain of -death, for exactly the same reason that all the houses in the city are -of one story: it was not seemly that any mere commoner should {044}be -able to look down upon the Emperor, and no women, even the women of the -bannermen, were allowed to set foot there, for it appeared that the God -of War, who naturally took an interest in these defences, objected to -women. - -Now little companies of soldiers take the place of those old-world -bannermen. They look out at the life of the city, at their fellows -drilling on the great plain beyond, at the muddy canal, that is like -a river, making its way across the khaki-coloured plain, that in the -summer is one vast crop of kaoliang--one vivid note of green. Wonderful -fertility you may see from the walls of the Chinese capital. Looking one -feels that the rush of the nations to finance the country is more than -justified. Surely here is the truest of wealth. But the soldiers on the -walls are children. China does not think much of her soldiers, and the -language is full of proverbs about them the reverse of complimentary. -“Good iron is not used for nails,” is one of them, “and good men do -not become soldiers.” How true that may be I do not know, but these men -seemed good enough, only just the babies a fellow-countryman talking of -them to me once called them. They know little of their own country, less -than nothing of any other. I feel they should not be dressed in shabby -khaki like travesties of the men of Western armies, tunics and sandals -and bows and arrows would be so much more in keeping with their -surroundings. And yet so small are they, like ants at the foot of an -oak, that their garb scarcely matters, they but emphasise the vastness -of the walls on which they stand; walls builded probably by men -differing but little from these soldiers of New China. {045}I -photographed a little company one bright day in the early spring--it is -hardly necessary to say it was bright, because all days at that season, -and indeed at most seasons, are brilliantly, translucently bright. -My little company dwelt in a low building made up apparently of -lattice-work and paper close to the observatory, and evidently word went -round that the wonderful thing had been done, and, for all the charm of -the walls, it was not a thing that was often done. I suppose the average -tourist does not care to waste his plates on commonplace little soldiers -in badly made khaki. When next I appeared with the finished picture all -along my route soldiers came and asked courteously, and plainly, for all -I knew not one word of their tongue, what the result had been. I showed -them, of course, and my following grew as I passed on. They knew those -who had been taken, which was lucky, for I certainly could not tell -t'other from which' and, when I arrived at their little house, smiling -claimants stretched out eager hands. I knew the number I had taken and I -had a copy apiece. And very glad I was, too, when they all ranged up and -solemnly saluted me, and then they brought me tea in their handleless -cups, and I, unwashed though I felt those cups were, drank to our -good-fellowship in the excellent Chinese tea that needs neither sugar -nor milk to make it palatable. - -[Illustration: 0084] - -There were other people, too, on the walls in the early springtime, -coolies clearing away the dead growth that had remained over from the -past summer. It was so light it seemed hardly worth gathering, and those -gleaners first taught me to realise something of the poverty of China, -the desperate poverty that {046}dare not waste so much as a handful of -dead grass. They gathered the refuse into heaps, tied it to each end of -their bamboos, and, slinging it over their shoulders, trudged with -it down one of the ramps into the city. Ever and again in my -peregrinations, I would come across one of them sitting in the sun, -going over his padded coat in the odd moments he could spare from his -toil. For the lower-class Chinese understands not the desirability of -water, as applied either to himself or his clothes, and, as he certainly -never changes those clothes while one shred will hold to another, the -moment must arrive, sooner or later, when his discomfort is desperate, -and something must be done. He is like the _wonks_, the great yellow -scavenger dogs that haunt the streets of Peking and all Chinese cities, -he sits down and scratches himself, and goes through his clothes. At -least that was my opinion. A friend of mine who had served for some -years in the interior with the great company, the British and American -Tobacco Company, that, with the missionaries, shares the honour of -doing pioneer work in China, says I am wrong, Chinamen don't mind such a -little thing as that. - -“Those carters,” said he, “in the interior as it gets colder just -pile one garment on over another, and never take anything off, and by -February--phew! If you want to smell a tall smell”--I said I didn't, -the smells of Peking were quite recondite enough for me--but he paid no -attention--“you just go and stand over the k'ang in a room where five or -six of them are crowded together.” - -And the carters, it seems, are highly respectable, sometimes well-to-do -men. I felt I had a lot to {047}learn about the Chinese, these men whose -ancestors had built the walls. - -Of course there are gates in the walls, nine gates in all in the Tartar -City, great archways with iron-studded doors and watch-towers above. -I count it one of the assets of my life, that I have stood under those -archways, where for centuries has ebbed and flowed the traffic of a -Babylonish city, old world still in this twentieth century. They are -lighted with electric light now, instead of with pitch-pine torches, but -no matter, the grey stones are there. - -The gate of a city like Peking is a great affair. Over every archway is -a watch-tower, with tiled roofs rising tier above tier, and portholes -filled with the painted muzzles of guns. Painted guns in the year of our -Lord 1914! So is the past bound up with the present in China! And these -are not entirely relics of the past like the catapult stones. In the -year 1900, when the Boxers looted the Chinese City, and the Europeans -in the Legations north of the Tartar wall trembled for their lives, the -looters burned the watch-tower on the Chien Men, all that was burnable -of it, and, when peace was restored, the Chinese set to work and built -their many-tiered watch-tower, built it in all the glory of red, and -green, and blue, and gold, and in the portholes they put the same -painted cannon that had been there in past ages, not only to strike -terror into the enemy, but also to impress the God of War with an idea -of their preparedness. And yet there was hardly any need of sham, for -these gateways must have been formidable things to negotiate before the -days of heavy artillery, for each is protected by a curtain wall as high -and as thick as the main wall, and in {048}them are archways, sometimes -one, sometimes two, sometimes three ways out, but always there is a -great square walled off in front of the gate so that the traffic must -pause, and may be stopped before it passes under the main archway into -the city. And these archways look down upon a traffic differing but -little from that which has passed down through all the ages. - -Here come the camels from Mongolia, ragged and dusty, laden with grain, -and wool, and fruit, and the camels from the Western Hills, laden with -those “black stones” that Marco Polo noted seven hundred years ago, and -told his fellow-countrymen they burned for heating purposes in Cambulac. -You may see them down by the Ha Ta Men preparing to start out on their -long journey, you may see them in the Imperial City, bringing in their -wares, but outside the south-western gate, by the watch-tower that -guards the corner of the wall, they are to be seen at their best. Here, -where the dust is heaped high under the clear blue sky of Northern -China, come slowly, in stately fashion, the camels, as they have come -for thousands of years. The man who leads them is ragged in the blue -of the peasant, his little eyes are keen, and patient, and cunning, and -there is a certain stolidity in his demeanour; life can hold but few -pleasures for him, one would think, and yet he is human, he cannot go on -superior, regardless of outside things, as does his string of beasts of -burden. The crenellated walls rise up behind them, the watch-tower -with its painted guns frowns down upon them, and the camels, the cord -fastened to the tail of the one in front, passing through the nostrils -of the one {049}behind, go steadily on. They are like the walls, they -are older than the walls, possibly they may outlive the walls; silently, -surely, in the soft, heaped-up dust they move; so they came a thousand -years ago, two thousand years ago, before the very dawn of history. - -These Babylonish gates have for me a never-ending attraction. I look and -look at the traffic, and always find something new. One sunny morning -I went and sat in the Chien Men, just to watch the never-ending throng -that made their way backwards and forwards between the Chinese and the -Tartar Cities. I took up my position in the centre of the great square, -large as Waterloo Place, enclosed by the curtain wall, and the American -Guard looked down upon me and wondered, for they watch the traffic -day in and day out, and so long as it is peaceful, they see nothing to -remark upon in it. There are three gates in the curtain wall, the one -to the south is never opened except for the highest in the land to pass -through, but from the east gate the traffic goes from the Tartar to the -Chinese City, through the west it comes back again, meeting and passing -under the great archway that leads to the Tartar City. And all day long -that square is thronged. East and west of the main archway are little -temples with the golden-brown roofs of all imperial temples, the Goddess -of Mercy is enshrined here, and there are bronze vases and flowering -plants, and green trees in artistic pots, all going to make a quiet -little resting-place where a man may turn aside for a moment from the -rush and roar of the city, burn aromatic incense sticks, and invoke good -fortune for the enterprise on which he is {050}engaged. Do the people -believe in the Goddess of Mercy, I wonder? About as much as I do, -I suspect. The Chinaman, said a Chinese to me once, is the most -materialistic of heathens, believing in little that he cannot see, and -handle, and explain; but all of us, Eastern or Western, are human, and -have the ordinary man's desire for the pitiful, kindly care of some -unseen Power. It is only natural. I, too, Westerner as I am, daughter -of the newest of nations, burned incense sticks at the shrine of the -Goddess of Mercy, and put up a little prayer that the work upon which -I was engaged should be successful. Men have prayed here through the -centuries. The prayer of so great a multitude must surely reach the Most -High, and what matter by what name He is known. - -[Illustration: 0090] - -Besides the temples there are little guard-houses for the soldiers in -the square; guard-houses with delicate, dainty lattice-work windows, -and there are signboards with theatre notices in Chinese on gay red -and yellow paper. There are black and yellow uniformed military police, -there are grey-coated little soldiers with just a dash of red about -their shabby, ill-fitting uniforms, and there are the people passing to -and fro intent on their business, the earning of a cash, or of thousands -of dollars. The earning of a cash, one would think mostly, looking at -many a thing of shreds and patches that passes by. To Western eyes the -traffic is archaic, no great motors rush about carrying crowds at once, -it consists of rickshaws with one or, at most, a couple of fares, of -Peking carts with blue tilts and a sturdy pony or a handsome mule in -the shafts, and the driver seated cross-legged in fronts of longer -carts {051}with wheels studded, as the Peking carts are, and loaded with -timber, with lime, and all manner of merchandise, and drawn sometimes by -three or four underfed little horses, but mostly by a horse or mule in -the shafts and a mule or a donkey so far in front one wonders he can -exert any influence on the traction at all. The rickshaw coolies clang -their bells, men on bicycles toot their horns, every donkey, and most -horses and mules, have rings of bells round their necks, and everyone -shouts at the top of his voice, while forty feet up on the wall, -a foreign soldier, one of the Americans who hold the Chien Men, is -practising all his bugle calls. - -“Turn out, turn out Mess, mess,” proclaims the bugle shrilly above. -“Clang, clang, clang,” ring the rickshaw bells. A postman in shabby -blue, with bands of dirty white, passes on his bicycle and blows his -horn, herald of the ways of the West. A brougham comes along with sides -all of glass, such as the Chinaman loves. In it is a man in a modern -tall hat, a little out-of-date; on the box, are two men in grey silk, -orthodox Chinese costume, queue and all, but alas for picturesqueness -they have crowned their heads with hideous tourist caps, the mafoo -behind on the step, hanging on to the roof by a strap, has on a very -ordinary wideawake, his business it is to jump down and lead the horses -round a corner--no self-respecting Chinese horse can negotiate a corner -without assistance--and the finishing touch is put by the coachman, also -in a tourist cap, who clangs a bell with as much fervour as a rickshaw -coolie. Before this carriage trot outriders. “Lend light, lend light,” - they cry, which is the Eastern way of saying “By your leave, by your -{052}leave. My master a great man comes.” After the coach come more -riders. It may be a modern carriage in which lie rides, but the -important man in China can no more move without his outriders and his -following, than could one of the kings or nobles of Nineveh or Babylon. - -More laden carts come in from the west, and the policeman, in dusty -black and yellow, directs them, though they really need no directing. -The average Chinese mind is essentially orderly, and never dreams of -questioning rules. Is there not a stone exactly in the middle of the -road under the great archway, and does not every man know that those -going east must go one way, and those going west the other? What need -for direction? An old-fashioned fat Chinese with shaven head and pigtail -and sleeveless black satin waistcoat over his long blue coat comes -along. He half-smothers a small donkey with a ring of jingling bells -round its neck, a coolie follows him in rags, but that does not matter, -spring is in the land, and he is nearly hidden by the lilac bloom he -carries, another comes along with a basket strapped on his back and a -scoop in his hand, he is collecting the droppings of the animals, either -for manure or to make argol for fuel, a stream of rickshaws swerve out -of the way of a blind man, ragged, bent, old, who with lute in one hand -and staff in the other taps his way along. - -“Hsien Sheng, before born,” he is addressed by the coolies directing -him, for his affliction brings him outward respect from these courteous -people. - -In the rickshaws are all manner of people: Manchu women with high -head-dresses in the form of a cross, highly painted faces and the gayest -of {053}long silk coats, shy Chinese women, who from their earliest -childhood have been taught that a woman must efface herself. Their hair -is decked with flowers, and dressed low on the nape of their necks, -their coats are of soberer colours, and their feet are pitifully maimed. -“For every small foot,” says a Chinese proverb, “there is a jar full -of tears.” The years of agony every one of those women must have lived -through, but their faces are impassive, smiling with a surface smile -that gives no indication of the feelings behind. - -The Chien Men, because it opens only from the Tartar to the Chinese -City, is not closed, but eight o'clock sees all the gates in the -twenty-three miles of outer wall closed for the night, and very -awkward it sometimes is for the foreigner, who is not used to these -restrictions, for neither threats nor bribes will open those gates once -they are shut. - -I remember on one occasion a young fellow, who had lingered too long -among the delights of the city, found himself, one pleasant warm summer -evening, just outside the Shun Chih Men as the gates of the Chinese City -were closing. He wanted to get back to his cottage at the race-course -but the guardians of the gate were obdurate. “It was an order and the -gates were closed till daylight next morning.” He could not climb the -walls, and even if he could, the two ponies he had with him could not. -He probably used up all the bad language at his command, if I know -anything about him, and he grew more furious when he recollected he had -guests coming to dinner. Then he began to think, and remembered that -the railway came through the wall. Inspection showed him that there -{054}were gates across it, also fast closed, and here he got his second -wind, and quite a fresh assortment of bad language, which was checked by -the whistle of an approaching train. Then a bright idea occurred to him. -Where a train could go, a pony could go, and he stood close to the line -in the darkness, instructed his mafoo to keep close beside him, and the -moment the train passed, got on to the line and followed in its wake, -regardless of the protests of raging gatekeepers. He got through the -gate triumphantly, but then, alas, his troubles began, for the railway -line had not been built with a view to taking ponies through the wall. -There were rocks and barbed wire, there were fences, and there were mud -holes, and his guests are wont to relate how as they were sitting down -to table under the hospitable guidance of his No. 1 boy, there arrived -{054}on the scene a man, mud to the eyes--it was summertime when there -is plenty of mud in the country round Peking--and silent, because no -profanity of which he was capable could possibly have done justice to -his feelings. Such are some of the joys of living in a Babylonish city. - -[Illustration: 0096] - -{055}When I had sat an hour in the gate I rose to go, and the rickshaw coolie -and I disagreed as to the fare. A rickshaw coolie and I never did -agree as to the fare. Gladly would I pay double to avoid a row, but the -coolie, taken from the Legation Quarter of Peking where the tourists -spoil him, would complain and try to extort more if you offered him a -dollar for a ten-cent ride, therefore the thing was not to be avoided. -I did not see my way to getting clear, and a crowd began to gather. Then -there came along a Chinese, a well-dressed young man. - -His long petticoats of silk were slit at the sides, he had on a silken -jacket and a little round cap. He wore no queue, because few of the men -of his generation, and of his rank wear a queue, and he spoke English as -good as my own. - -“What is the matter?” I told him. “How much did you pay him?” - -“Forty cents.” - -“It is too much,” said he, and he called a policeman, and that coolie -was driven off with contumely. But it marked a wonderful stride in -Chinese feeling that a Chinese should come to the assistance of a -foreigner in distress. Not very long ago he would have passed on the -other side, scorning the woman of the outer barbarians, glad in his -heart that she should be “done” even by one so low in the social scale -as a rickshaw coolie, a serf of the great city these ancient walls -enclose. - - - - -CHAPTER IV--THE LEGATION QUARTER OF PEKING - -{056} - -_A forgotten tragedy--The troops--“Lest We Forget”--The fortified -wall--“No low-class Chinese”--The last thing in the way of insults--A -respecter of power--Racing stables--Pekin s'amuse--Chinese gentleman -on a waltz--Musical comedy--The French of the Far East--Chances of an -outbreak--No wounded._ - -|At Canton a few years since,” wrote Sir George Staunton, recording the -visit of the first British Ambassador to the Emperor of China in 1798, -“an accident happened which had well-nigh put a stop to our foreign -trade. Evils of every kind fraught with this tendency are to be -apprehended, and ought to be particularly guarded against, especially by -a commercial nation. On some day by rejoicing in firing the guns of -one of those vessels which navigates between the British settlements in -India and Canton, but not in the employment of the East India Company, -two Chinese, in a boat lying near the vessel, were accidentally killed -by the gunner. The crime of murder is never pardoned in China. The -Viceroy of the Province, fired with indignation at the supposed -atrocity, demanded the perpetrator of the deed, or the person of him who -ordered it. The event was stated in remonstrance to be purely -accidental but the Viceroy, supposing it to have been done from a wicked -disposition, still persisted in his {057}demand, and to assure himself -of that object, he seized one of the principal supercargoes. The other -factories being alarmed, united themselves with the English as in -a common cause, and seemed disposed to resist the intentions of the -Viceroy who on his part arranged his troops on the banks of the river -to force a compliance. It was at last deemed expedient on principles of -policy, to give up the gunner with scarce a glimmering of hope that his -life would be spared.” - -Later on in a casual footnote he records that their worst fears had been -realised, and the unfortunate gunner, given up, let us hope, not so -much from motives of policy as to save the supercargo, had been done to -death. - -That incident, to my mind, explains the Legation Quarter of Peking -to-day. Of course the Legation, in its present form, dates only from -the Boxer rising, but the germ of it was there when the merchants of the -assembled nations felt themselves compelled to sacrifice the careless -gunner “from motives of policy.” One hundred and twenty years ago the -Western nations were only a stage removed from the barbaric civilisation -the Chinese had reached two or three thousand years before, but still -they were moving onward, and they felt they must combine if they would -trade with this rich land, and yet protect their subjects and their -goods. And so they did combine, and there arose that curious state of -affairs between the foreigners and the people of the land that has held -for many years, that holds in no other land, and that has crystallised -in the Legation Quarter of Peking. - -Suppose in London all the great nations of the {058}earth took a strip -of the town, extending say from Marble Arch to Hyde Park Corner, and -from Park Lane to Bond Street, held it and fortified it heavily, -barring out the inhabitants, not wholly, but by certain regulations that -prevented them having the upper hand. The thing is unthinkable, yet that -is exactly what has happened in Peking. Against the Tartar wall, from -the Chien Men to the Ha Ta Men, the nations have taken a parallelogram -of ground all but a mile square, they have heavily fortified it, on -three sides they have cleared a broad glacis on which no houses may -be built, and they have there a body of troops with which they could -overawe if not hold all the town. - -[Illustration: 0102] - -No man knows exactly how many men the Japanese have, but supposing they -are on a par with the other nations, there are at least two thousand -five hundred men armed to the teeth and kept at the highest pitch of -perfection in the Legation Quarter. Living there is like living in an -armed camp. You cannot go in or out without passing forts or guns, -in the streets you meet ammunition wagons, baggage wagons, Red Cross -wagons, and at every turn are soldiers, soldiers of all the European -nations that have any standing at all, soldiers from America, soldiers -from Japan; they are doing sentry-go at the various Legations, they -are drilling, they are marching, they are shooting all day long. In one -corner of the British Legation they keep untouched a piece of the old -shot-torn wall of 1900 and painted on it, in big black letters, is the -legend, “Lest We Forget,” a reminder always, if the nations needed a -reminder, of the days of 1900, of the terrible days that may be repeated -any time this {059}peace-loving nation drifts into an anti-foreign -outbreak. I was going to write it is almost insulting; but it is -insulting, and this armed Legation Quarter must be in truth cruelly -galling to the better-class, educated Chinese. They must long to oust -these arrogant men from the West and their neighbour from the East, who -thus lord it over them in the very heart of their own city. Even the -wall, the great Tartar wall built first by Kublai Khan, and finished by -the Ming conquerors, comes under foreign domination from the Ha Ta Men -to the Chien Men. The watch-tower over the Ha Ta Men is still in the -hands of the Chinese, and like most things Chinese is all out of repair. -The red lacquer is cracked, the gold is faded, the grass grows on the -tiled roofs, in the winter dried-up and faded, in the summer lush and -green, and for all the Chinese soldiers hold it, it is desolate and a -thing of the past But a hundred yards or so to the west, is the German -post. Always are armed men there with the eagle on their helmets, always -an armed sentry marches up and down, keeping watch and ward. No great -need for them to hold the Ha Ta Men, their guns dominate it, and below -in the town the French hold carefully the fortified eastern side of -the Legation Quarter. The centre of that strip of wall, held by the -Japanese, is marked by an iron fence called, I am told, a “traverse.” - There is a gate in it, and across the path to that gate, so that it may -not be so easily got through, is built up a little wall of brick the -height of a man. In the summertime the grass grows on it green and -fresh, and all the iron bars of that fence and gate are wreathed -in morning glory. The Japanese are not so much in evidence as the -{060}efficient Germans or the smart Americans, but I am told they are -more than keen, and would gladly and effectually hold the whole wall -would the other nations allow them. At the Chien Men, the western end -of the mile-long strip of wall are the Americans, tall, lean, smart, -capable men in khaki, with slouch hats turned up at the sides, -clean-shaven faces and the sound in their voices that makes of their -English another tongue. In the troubles of 1912, when fires were -breaking out all over the city, and every foreigner fled for safety -to his Legation, Uncle Sam, guarding the western end of the wall -overlooking those Legations, seized the beautiful new watch-tower on the -Chien Men, his soldiers established themselves there, and they hold it -still. It dominates their Legation they say with reason, for their own -safety they must hold it, and the Chinese acquiesce, not because they -like it, but because they must. Periodically representations come in, -all is quiet now, the Americans may as well give up the main gate, or -rather watch-tower, for they do not hold the main gate, only the tower -that overlooks it. But the answer is always the same, it overlooks their -Legation, they must hold it. They have a wireless telegraph post there -and a block-house, and the regulations for the sentry, couched in cold, -calm, official language, are an insult to the friendly nation that gives -them hospitality, or would be so, if that nation had not shown itself -incapable of controlling the passions of its own aroused people. The -sentry clad in khaki in summer, in blue in winter, marching up and down -by the watch-tower, magnificent in its gorgeous Eastern decorations -of blue, and green, and red, and barbaric gold, must report at once -anything {061}unusual taking place in the gate below, any large -gathering of Chinese, any unusual commotion, but above all upon that -wall, that wall that belongs to them and is the wall of their capital -city, he must not allow, without a permit, any Chinese. The wording of -the order runs, “No low-class Chinese,” but the definition of low class -is left to the discretion of the soldier, and he is not likely to risk -a reproof from those in authority over him by being too lax. With my -own eyes have I seen a Chinese, well-dressed in European clothes, turned -back by the sentry from the ramp when he would have walked upon the -wall. He looked surprised, he was with European friends, the order -could not apply to him, but the sentry was firm. He had his orders, “No -Chinese,” and without a special permit he must see them carried out. It -seemed cruel, and unnecessarily humiliating, but on the central ramp -are still the places where the Americans, seeking some material for a -barricade, fighting to save themselves from a ghastly death, tore -out the bricks from the side of the great wall. Other nations beside -Britain, write in their actions, if not on their walls: “Lest We -Forget!” The lower-class Chinese probably do not mind the prohibition. -It is considered bad manners for a Chinaman to walk upon the wall, -because he thereby overlooks the private houses below, but in these days -of the New Republic possibly good manners are not so much considered as -formerly, and since the Chinese have never been allowed upon the wall -they probably do not realise that thirteen miles of it are free to them, -if they care to go there. Some few I know do, because I have met there -men gathering the dried vegetation for fuel, and I have {062}seen one or -two beggars, long-haired, filthy men in the frowsiest of rags, but the -first have probably got permission from the soldiers, and the latter, -seeing foreigners there, have most likely been tempted by the hope of -what to them is a lavish dole, and, finding no harm happen, have come -again. I may be wrong, of course, but I hardly think death can have much -terror for the Chinese beggar, life must hold so very little for him. -Those who, having dared their own portion of the wall with impunity, -find the foreign mile still a forbidden place to them, probably put it -in the same category as the Forbidden City, and never realise that it -is the outlander, the outer barbarian, and not their own Government that -shuts them off. - -But the holding of that wall by an armed force, that dominates both the -Chinese and the Tartar Cities, seems to me the very greatest thing -in the way of insults. Some day when the Chinese are a united nation, -powerful as they ought to be, they will awake to that insult, and -the first thing they will do will be to clear their wall from foreign -interference. Meanwhile, as I sit in a courtyard of a temple of the -Western Hills, drinking in the sparkling air of September, looking -at the lovely blue sky peeping through the dark green branches of the -temple pines, as I sit and write this book, I think gratefully of that -loose-limbed, lissom, athletic, young American soldier who, with rifle -across his shoulder, is doing sentry-go upon the wall. The German is -there too, the stiff, well-drilled, military German, but my heart goes -out to the man who is nearer akin, and whose speech is not unlike that -of the people of my own land. It seems to me I am {063}safe here, alone -among the Chinese, because of those soldiers. There are those who will -say I am wrong, that the Chinese are always courteous, and that they -like me because of the money I put into their pockets. And that is true -enough too. I have found the very rickshaw coolie a finished, courteous -gentleman in his manner towards me, and I have received many little acts -of kindness which could but come from a kindly heart, with no thought of -profit behind it; but still, deep down at the bottom of my heart, I know -that the Chinese, more than any man on earth perhaps, respects power, -and the Legation Quarter, and the holding of that wall, are an outward -manifestation of power that reaches far and keeps me safe here in -my mountain temple. The gods here by my side are dead, who fears or -respects the gods, Spanish chestnuts are stored beside their altars, but -the foreign soldiers on the wall are a fact there is no getting over. -It impresses those in authority, and the fiat goes forth, permeating -through all classes, “The foreigner is not to be touched under any -circumstances whatever.” - -On this wall come the foreign community to exercise and promenade in -the cool of the evening in summer, or to enjoy the sunshine at midday -in winter, and here all the soldiers and sailors of the various -nationalities foregather. There is no other place in all Peking where -one can walk with comfort, for the Chinese as a nation, have no idea of -the joy of exercise. They have put it out of the power of their women -to move save with difficulty, and that a man should take any pleasure in -violent exercise seems to them absurd. To walk when he {064}can ride in -a rickshaw, or mount a donkey, would argue something wrong in his mental -outlook, so it happens that, in all the great city, there are only the -streets of the Legation Quarter and the wall where walking exercise -can be indulged in. The streets of the Quarter are the streets of an -uninteresting, commonplace town, but the wall overlooking the two cities -is quite another matter. Here the part of the foreign community that -does not ride takes its exercise, and foregathers with its kind. - -[Illustration: 0110] - -[Illustration: 0111] - -The foreign quarter is not always thinking of the dangers it is guarding -against. That it thinks also a great deal of its amusement, goes without -saying. I have observed that this is a special characteristic of the -Briton abroad. At home the middle-class man--or woman--is chary of -pleasure, taking it as if it were something he had hardly a right -to; but abroad he seizes eagerly the smallest opportunity for amusing -himself, demanding amusement as something that hardly compensates him -for his exile from his native land. So it has come that I, a looker-on, -with less strong bonds than those from the Old Country binding me to my -father's land, fancy that these exiles have in the end a far better time -than the men of the same class who stay at home. I am apt to have no -pity for them whatever. - -One thing is certain, people keep horses here in Peking who could not -dream of such a luxury in England. True, they are only ponies fourteen -hands high, but a great deal of fun can be got out of pony racing. And -racing-stables are a feature of the Quarter. Not that they are in the -Quarter. {065}On the plain, about five miles to the west of the city, -lies the little race-course, and dotted about within easy distance of -this excellent training-ground are the various training-stables for the -ponies. The China pony comes from Mongolia, where close watch and ward -is kept over him, and neither mares nor stallions are exported. - -“If I could only get hold of a mare,” sighs the young racing man, but he -sighs in vain. Meanwhile he can indulge in the sport of kings cheaply. - -“I've joined another fellow in a racing-stable,” said a man to me, soon -after my arrival in Peking, and I looked upon him with something of the -awe and respect one gives to great wealth. I had not thought he was so -well off. He saw my mistake and laughed. - -“The preliminary expenses are only thirty pounds,” he went on, “and -I don't intend they shall be very heavy. We can have good sport at a -moderate cost.” Of course moderate cost is an elastic term, depending on -the purse of the speaker, but in this case I think it meant that men -of very ordinary means, poor exiles who would live in a six-roomed flat -with a couple of maidservants in England, might have a good time without -straining those means unduly. - -A race-meeting in Peking has peculiarities all its own. Of course it -is only the men from the West who would think of a race-meeting. The -Chinese, except at the theatre, do not amuse themselves in crowds. - -The Spring Meeting took place early in May, and the description of it -should come a little later in my book, but it seems to fall naturally -into {066}the story of the doings of the Legation Quarter. Arrangements -were made with the French railway running to Hankow to stop close to -the course, and put the race-going crowd down there. There was no other -means of getting there, except by riding; for driving in a country where -every inch of ground, save a narrow and rough track, is given over -to the needs of agriculture, is out of the question. That spring -race-meeting the day was ideal. There was the blue sky overhead, the -brilliant sunshine, a gentle breeze to temper it, the young kaoliang was -springing, lush and green, in the fields, and the ash-trees that shelter -the race-course were one delicate tender green. A delicious day. Could -the heart of man desire more? Apparently the foreign residents of Peking -did not desire more, for they turned out, men, women, and children. And -then I saw what a handful of people are these foreigners who live in -the capital of China and endeavour to direct her destinies, for save and -except the missionary element, most of the other foreigners were there, -from his Britannic Majesty's representative to the last little boy who -had joined a hong as junior clerk at a hundred dollars a month, and -felt that the cares of Empire were on his shoulders. They were mostly -British, of course, the foreign trade of China--long may it be so--is -mostly in British hands; and there were representatives of every other -great nation, the Ministers of France, Germany, Russia, of Italy, -Austria, Spain, Belgium, Holland, and Japan, everyone but America, for -America was busy recognising the Chinese Republic, and the other nations -were smiling, and wondering why the nation that prides {067}itself on -being the champion of freedom for the people, was being the first to -recognise what is, virtually, a despotic rule. - -The little course, a mile round, is marked out with leafy ash-trees, the -grand-stand was charming with lilac bloom purple and white, and -banksia roses, fragrant as tender memories. It was shaded by -p'engs--mats--raised high on scaffolding, so that pleasant shade might -not interfere with the cool breeze, and here were the women of the -community, the women of well-to-do people, gay in dainty toilets from -London and Paris; the men were in light summer suits, helmets and straw -hats, for summer was almost upon us. Tiffin, the luncheon of the East, -was set in the rooms behind, decorated with miniature flags of all -nations, made in Japan, and wreathed with artificial flowers, though -there was a wealth of natural blossom around the stand outside. There -is a steward's room and the weighing-room in one tiny building with a -curved roof of artistic Chinese design, and all the ponies are walked -about and saddled and mounted where every interested spectator can see -them. And every spectator on that sunny May day was interested, for -the horses, the sturdy Chinese ponies, were, and always are, owned and -ridden by the men of the company, men whom everybody knows intimately. -For these Peking race-meetings are only amateur, and though, -occasionally, a special pony may change hands at two thousand -dollars--two hundred pounds--the majority are bought and sold under two -hundred dollars--twenty pounds--and yet their owners have much joy and -pride in them. - -Surely it is unique, a race-meeting where all the {068}civilised nations -of the earth meet and fraternise in simple, friendly fashion, taking a -common pleasure in small things. - -“They're off!” Mostly the exclamation was in English, but a -Russian-owned horse, ridden by a Cossack rider, won one race, and was -led proudly up to the weighing-room by a fair lady of his own people, -and was cordially applauded, for the winner was always applauded, no -matter what his nationality. - -The horses, coming out to parade, were each led by their own mafoo, -who managed to look horsey in spite of a shaven head, long queue, and -pronounced Chinese features. Up and down they led the ponies, up and -down, and when at last the precious charges must be resigned, a score of -them squatted down just where they could get the best view of the -race, and doubtless each man put up a little prayer to the god he most -affected, that the pony that carried his money might come in first. - -When we were not watching the saddling, or the parade, or the race, -or the weighing-in, we were listening to a Chinese band, Sir Robert -Bredon's band, with a Chinese conductor, playing selections from all the -modern Western music. It might have been--where in the world might it -not have been? Nowhere but in Peking in the heart of China surely, for -there, just beyond the limit of the course, were long strings of camels -bound for coal to the Western Hills, marching steadily, solemnly, -tirelessly, as they marched in the days of Marco Polo, and a thousand -years before the days of Marco Polo, and all round the course, crowding -every point of vantage were a large concourse of Chinese, people {069}of -the working and middle classes, clad mostly in blue, the women with -bound feet from the farms near by, the men and the children very likely -from further afield, but all unchanging as the camels themselves, -eagerly watching the foreigners' sports. They are not allowed to come -into the enclosure, every mafoo and attendant wears a special badge, and -even Chinese of the better class may come only by special invitation -of some member. These interested folk, who have no friends among the -foreigners may not even go into the enclosure, where the “Tommies” and -bluejackets, men from England and America, France, Japan, and all the -countries of the earth crowded in the gay sunshine making high holiday. -Nevertheless the Orientals surrounded the course. They got upon the -mounds of earth that are at the back and looked from that vantage-point -not only at the races but at the foreign devils at their tiffin and -afternoon tea. Their own refreshment was provided by hawkers selling -cakes and sweetmeats, just outside the forbidden ground, and Peking -carts and donkeys waited round to take them back to their homes. There -were even beggars there, beggars with long, unkempt hair, wrapped in -a single garment of sackcloth, ragged, unwashed, unkempt, the typical -beggars of China, for no one knows better than they when money is being -lightly handled, and as the bright sunny day, the gorgeous spring day -of Northern China drew slowly to a close doubtless even they, whom every -man's hand was against, gathered in a few stray cash. I hope they did. -Such a very little makes so much difference in China. - -The sun sank slowly to the west in the translucent {070}sky, the ponies -in the saddling paddock were walked slowly up and down in the long -shadows of the ash-trees, and the country was beautiful with the soft -regret of the dying day as we walked back through the fields of kaoliang -to the railway station, we, the handful of people who represented the -power and majesty of the Western world. The mighty walls of an older -civilisation frowned down upon the train--this thing of yesterday--the -last rays of the setting sun lighted up all the glory of the red and -gold of the Chien Men watch-tower and we were in the Legation Quarter -once more, with armed sentries at the gates, and the American soldier -upon the wall sounding the bugle call for the changing guard. - -I come from a country where every little township considers a -race-course as necessary as a cemetery. I have been to many many -race-meetings, but this one in Peking, where the men of the land are so -barred out that no one of Chinese descent may belong to the Club or even -ride a race, stands out as unique. It has a place in my mind by itself. -It was so expressive of the attitude of the Powers who watch over -China. Peking, the Peking of the Legations had been amusing herself. The -National Assembly was in an uproar, the Premier was openly accused of -murder, the Loan was in anything but a satisfactory state, everyone -feared that the North and the South would be at each other's throats -before the month was out, the air was full of rumours of wars, but the -English-speaking community love racing, the other nations, from their -Ministers downwards, had fallen into line, and Peking, foreign Peking, -did itself well. - -And I wondered, I wondered much what the {071}Chinese thought of it all. -It is very, very difficult, so men tell me who have lived in China long, -and speak the language well, to get at the bottom of the Chinese mind, -to know what they really do think of us. The Chinese gentleman is so -courteous that as far as possible he always expresses the opinion he -thinks you would like to hear, and the Chinese woman, even if she be of -the better classes, with very few exceptions is unlearned and ignorant -as a child, indeed she is worse than a child of the Western nations, for -the child is at least allowed to ask questions and learn, while all her -charm is supposed to depend upon her subservience and her ignorance. -As I stood on the race-course that day, and many a time as I sat in -the lounge of the Wagons Lits Hotel--the European hotel of the Legation -Quarter--where all tourists visiting Peking come, where the nations of -the world foregather, and East meets West as never before perhaps in the -world's history have they met, I have wondered very much indeed what the -East, the portly middle-aged Chinaman with flowing silken robes and -long queue thinks of us and our manners and customs. He was accompanied -perhaps by a friend, or perhaps by a lady in high collar and trousers -with a little son, the crown of the child's head shaven, and the -remaining hair done in a halo of little plaits tied up with string, -yellow, red, or blue, and he watched gravely either the dancing, or the -conversation, or the conjurer, or whatever other amusement the “Wagons -Lits” had for the time being set up. Again and again have I watched him, -but I could never even make a guess at what he thought. Probably it was -anything but complimentary. - -[Illustration: 0119] - -{072}“The men dressed for dinner,” said a Chinese once, describing an -evening he had spent among foreigners; “then the order was given and the -women stripped,” that is took off their wraps when the music began, only -everything is “ordered” in China, “and each man seized a woman in his -arms. He pushed her forward, he pulled her back,” graphic illustrations -were given, “he whirled round and round and she had no will of her own. -And it was all done to horrible music.” - -Everything is in the point of view, and that is how, at least one -Chinese gentleman saw a waltz. I used to wonder what he said of the -musical comedy that from time to time is presented by a wandering -company in the dining-room of the Wagons Lits Hotel. They displayed -upon a tiny crowded stage, for the edification of Chinese and foreigners -alike, for the room was crowded with Chinese both of the old and of the -new order, such a picture of morals as Europeans take as a matter of -course. We know well enough that such scenes as are depicted in “The -Girl in the Taxi” are merely the figments of an exuberant imagination, -and are not the daily habits of any class either in London or Paris. But -what do the Chinese think? All things are necessary and good, I suppose, -but some are difficult to explain. Thirteen years ago the Boxer tragedy, -now the musical comedy full of indecencies scarcely veiled. - -Truth to tell, it was a very interesting thing for a new-comer like me -to sit in that hotel watching the people, and listening to the various -opinions so freely given by all and sundry. From all parts of the world -people come there, tourists, soldiers, {073}sailors, business men, -philanthropists'--men who were working for the good of China, and men -who were ready to exploit her. And then the opinions as to the safety of -the Europeans in China that were expressed! Here, in the security of the -Legation Quarter, I collected those opinions as I wanted to go into the -interior, and I was by no means anxious to risk my life. - -To arrive at any decision was very difficult. In the Treaty Ports there -may be some unanimity, but once outside it seemed that every man had his -own particular opinion of China and the Chinese, and all these opinions -differed widely. - -“Safe,” said a man who had fought through the Boxer trouble; “safer far -than London. They had to pay then, and they won't forget, you can take -your oath of that.” - -“Like living on a volcano,” said another. “No, I shall never forget the -Boxer trouble. That's the kind of thing that is graved on your mind with -hot irons. Do it again? Of course they'll do it again. A docile people, -I grant you, but they're very fiends when they're aroused. They're -emotional, you know, the French of the Far East, and when they let -themselves go------” He paused, and I realised that he had seen them let -themselves go, and no words could describe the horror of it. “Would I -let my wife and children live in one of the hu t'ungs of Peking? Would -I? How would they get away when the trouble commenced?” - -The chances are they couldn't get away. The hu t'ungs of Peking are -narrow alley-ways running out from the main thoroughfares, and the -houses there are built, Chinese fashion, round courtyards {074}and -behind blank walls, hidden away in a nest of other buildings, and the -difficulty of getting out and back to the armed Legation Quarter, when a -mob were out bent on killing, would be enormous. - -“A Debt Commission spells another anti-foreign outbreak, and we're -within an ace of a Debt Commission,” said another man thoughtfully; -“and if there is a row and things look like going against us, I keep one -cartridge in my revolver for myself.” It does not seem much when I write -it down, such things have I heard carelessly said many a time before, -but when I, a foreigner and a solitary woman, was contemplating a trip -up-country, they had a somewhat sinister sound. - -On the other hand again and again have I heard men scout all idea of -danger, men who have been up and down the country for years. And yet -but yesterday, the day before I write these words, a man looked at his -pretty young wife, she was sweetly pretty, and vowed vehemently, “I -would not leave my wife and child alone for a night in our house just -outside the Quarter for anything on earth. If anything did happen--and -it might------” and he dropped his voice. There are some things that -will not bear thinking about, and he had seen the looting of Nanking and -the unfortunates who had died when they took the Woosung Forts. “We went -to look after the wounded,” said he, “and there weren't any wounded. -The savage Northern soldiery had seen to that.” And those whom they -mutilated were their own people! What would they do to a foreigner in -the event of an anti-foreign outbreak? - -“Are you afraid?” I asked a man who certainly lived far enough away in -the city. {075}He looked at me curiously, as if he were going to say -there was nothing to be afraid of, and then he changed his mind. - -“Perhaps I am when I think of it,” said he; “but then you see, I don't -think of it.” - -And that is the average attitude, the necessary attitude, because no man -can perpetually brood over the dangers that might assail him. Certain -precautions he takes to safeguard himself, here are the nations armed -to the teeth in the heart of a friendly country, and for the rest _Quien -sabe?_ - -And I talked with all men, and while I was making preparations to go -into the interior, had the good-fortune to see a quaint and curious -pageant that took me back to Biblical days and made me remember how -Vashti the Queen was cast down, and the beautiful Esther found favour in -the sight of her lord, and how another tragic Hebrew Queen, going down -to posterity with a name unjustly smirched and soiled, had once painted -her face and tired her head, and looking out of the window had defied to -the death her unfaithful servant. “Had Zimri peace who slew his master?” - - - - -CHAPTER V--THE FUNERAL OF AN EMPRESS - -{076} - -_A good republican--The restricted Empire of the Manchus--Condign -punishment--Babylon--An Adventurous Chinaman--The entrance to the -Forbidden City--The courtyards of Babylon--A discordant and jarring -note--Choirs of priests--A living Buddha--“The Swanee River”--The last -note in bathos--Palace eunuchs--Out of hand--Afternoon tea--The funeral -procession--The imperial bier--Quaint and strange and Eastern._ - -|The Dowager-Empress of China, the unloved wife and widow of the late -Emperor, died, so they gave out to the world, on the 22nd February, -1913, the day I arrived in China. As Empress, just one of the women -of the Court chosen to please the ruler and to bear him children, his -consort in China never seems to have had any particular standing. This -Empress was overshadowed by her aunt, the great Dowager-Empress whom all -the world knew, but once the Emperor was dead, as one of the guardians -of the baby Emperor she came into a certain amount of power, for the -position of Dowager-Empress seems to be an official one as, since her -death, another woman who has never been wife to an Emperor has been -appointed to the post. - -The power has gone from the Manchus, but China is wedded to her past, -nothing passes, so even the Chinese Republic, the men who barely a year -before {077}had ousted the Empress from her high estate, united in doing -her honour at her obsequies. - -“She was the best republican of us all,” said a Chinese gentleman, -learned in the lore and civilisation of the West, “for she freely gave -up her position that China might be free.” - -It was a pretty way of putting it, but to me it seems doubtful whether -anyone in over-civilised China trammelled with many conventions, -is free, and it is hardly likely that a woman bred to think she had -attained the most important position in the world that can fall to a -woman's lot, would give it up freely for the good of a people she -knew absolutely nothing about. All the Manchus rule over now are -the courtyards and palaces of the Forbidden City, and there they are -supreme. It is whispered that only a week before the day of which I -write, a man was there beaten to death for having stolen something -belonging to the dead Empress. So much for the love of the Manchus -for freedom and enlightenment. It carries one back to the Middle -Ages--further, to Babylon. - -“They slew there mercilessly, and they also feasted--so did the -representatives of the dead Empress hold high festival in her honour. - -“The King made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan -the palace, both unto great and small, seven days, in the Court in the -garden of the King's palace. - -“Where were white, green, and blue hangings fastened with cords of fine -linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble, the beds were of -gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black -marble. - -{078}“And they gave them drink in vessels of gold... and royal wine in -abundance, according to the state of the King.” - -So Ahasuerus the King entertained his people of Babylon, when Vashti the -Queen fell, and of Babylon only could I think when, first I entered the -Forbidden City. - -[Illustration: 0129] - -Standing on the walls of Peking, a city of the plain, you look down upon -twelve square miles of grey-tiled roofs, the roofs of one-storied houses -hidden in the summertime by a forest of trees, but in the heart of -the city are high buildings that stand out not only by reason of their -height but because the roofs of golden-brown tiles, imperial yellow, -gleam and glow in the sunlight. This is the Forbidden City where has -dwelt for hundreds of years the Emperor of China, often he must have -been the only man in it, and always it was closed to all save the -immediate following of the Son of Heaven. - -I never realised till I came to Peking that this forbidden ground was -just as much an object of curiosity to the Chinese as it would have been -to any European nation. - -“I went in once,” said a Chinese gentleman to me, “when I was a young -man.” He was only forty then. - -“Were you invited?” - -“No, no. I went secretly. I wanted to see what it was like.” - -“But how?” - -“I got the dress of a eunuch and I slipped in early one morning, and -then, when I got in, I hardly dared move or breathe for fear someone -should find me out. Then when no one took any notice of me I {079}walked -about and saw everything I could, but the last hour was the worst, I was -terrified at the thought that I might not be able to get out.” - -“And if you had been caught?” - -He looked grave even then at the remembrance of that bygone desperate -adventure. - -“Oh death, certainly.” - -“Death?” - -“Yes, a long and lingering death,” and the thought of what he had -escaped twenty years ago, was on his face. - -I looked at him with interest, a tall stout Chinaman with his hair cut -short in the modern fashion, a long grey robe of silk reaching to his -feet, and a little short black sleeveless jacket over it. He did not -look, pleasant as he was, as if he would ever have dared anything, but -then I have never thought of any Chinaman as likely to risk his life -without hope of gain, and to risk it for mere curiosity as a man of my -own people might have done! It was throwing a new light on the Chinese. -I rather admired him and then I found he was Eastern after all. - -We talked of Yuan Shih K'ai, and he, being of the opposition party, -expressed his opinion freely, and, considering all things, very boldly -about him. - -“He has eighteen wives,” said he shaking his head as if this was the -unpardonable sin in a man who desired to imitate the manners and customs -of the West. - -I repeated this to a friend, and he burst out laughing. “Why the old -sinner,” said he, “what's he throwing stones for? He's got seventeen and -a half himself!” {080}So it seems it will be some time before forbidden -cities on a small scale will be out of fashion in China. - -And still, in these days of the Republic, the Forbidden City of the -Manchus dominates Peking. - -It was thrown open for three days to all who could produce a black paper -chrysanthemum with five leaves, red, yellow, blue, black, and white, -fastened to a tab of white paper with a mourning edge and an inscription -in Chinese characters. The foreigners had theirs from their Legations, -and the Chinese from their guilds. And those Chinese--there are many -of them--who are so unlucky as to belong to no guild, Chinese of the -humbler sort, were shut out, and for them there was erected on the great -marble bridge in front of the southern entrance, a pavilion of gorgeous -orange silk enclosing an altar with offerings that stood before a -picture of the dead Empress, so that all might pay their respects. - -I pinned my badge to the front of my fur coat, for it was keen and cold -in spite of the brilliant sunshine, and went off to the wrong entrance, -the eastern gate, where only princes and notables were admitted. -I thought it strange there should be no sign of a foreigner, but -foreigners in Peking can be but as one in a hundred or less, so -undismayed, I walked straight up to the gate, and immediately a row of -palace servants clad in their white robes of mourning, clustered before -the sacred place. They talked and explained vehemently, and with perfect -courtesy, but they were very agitated, and though I could not understand -one word they said, one thing was certain, admitted I could not be -there. So I turned to the southern gate and there it seemed all Peking -was streaming. {081}It was like China that we might not go in the direct -way. - -There is a great paved way through the Imperial City alongside a canal -that runs between marble-lined banks, but on the principal bridge that -crosses it was erected the orange silk pavilion for the poorer classes, -and we, the wearers of the black chrysanthemum, hundreds and thousands -and ten thousands of us, had to turn off to the right and go along by -the tall, pinkish red walls till we came to the great archways in the -walls, five great archways filled in with doors studded with great -brazen knobs. Usually they were fast shut, but they were open to-day, -guarded by soldiers in full-marching order, soldiers of the New Republic -in modern khaki looking out of the picture, and there streamed into the -tunnellike entrance as curious a crowd as ever I set eyes upon. All -must walk, old and young, great and lowly, representatives of the mighty -nations of the world and tottering Chinese ladies swaying like “lilies -in the wind” upon their maimed feet, only one man, a Mongol Prince, an -Incarnation of a Buddha, a living Buddha, was borne in in a sedan chair. -But every other mortal had to walk. The tunnels must always be gloomy, -and, even on that cold day, they struck chill after the brilliant -sunlight, and they are long, for the walls, just here, are about -ninety feet through, so might the entrances have been in the palace -of Ahasuerus the King. The courtyard we first entered had a causeway -running right across it of great hewn stones, hewn and laid by slave -labour, when all men bowed before the Son of Heaven, hundreds of years -ago. They are worn in many places now, worn by the passing of many -{082}feet, and still more worn are the grey Chinese bricks that pave -the courtyard on either side. It is a great courtyard of splendid -proportions. In front of us frowned more high walls of pinkish red, -topped by the buildings that can be seen all over Peking, temples or -halls of audience with golden-brown tiled roofs that gleamed in -the sunlight, and on either side were low buildings with fronts of -lattice-work rather fallen into disrepair. They might have been used as -guard-houses or, more probably, were the quarters of the six thousand or -so of eunuchs that the dignity of the ruler required to attend upon him. -There were a few trees, leafless then in March, but there was nothing -to spoil the dignity and repose of every line. A great mind surely -conceived this entrance, and great must have been the minds that kept it -so severely simple. If it be the heart of a nation then do I understand. -The people who streamed along the causeway, who roamed over the worn -brick pavement, had, as a rule, delicate, finely formed hands though -they were but humble craftsmen. If the hands of the poorest be so fine, -is it any wonder that the picked men of such a people, their very heart, -conceived such a mighty pile? There were more, longer and gloomier -tunnels, admitting to a still greater courtyard, a courtyard that must -be at least a quarter of a mile across, with the same causeway of worn -stones that cry out the tale of the sufferings of the forgotten slaves, -who hewed them and dragged them into place, the same grey pavement of -bricks, the same tall smooth red walls, crowned over the gateway with -temples, rising one story after another till the tiled roof cuts the -sky. And through a third set of tunnels we came into a third courtyard, -{083}the courtyard where the obsequies were being held. The third -courtyard was spacious as Trafalgar Square, and round three sides was a -wide raised platform of stone reached by broad and easy ramps, and -all across it ran a canal held in by marble banks, crossed by graceful -bridges, and every one of the uprights, made of white marble, was -crowned by a figure that I took for the representation of a flame; but -those, who know, tell me it is meant to represent a cloud, and is part -of the dragon symbolism. When marble is the medium by which so light a -thing as a cloud is represented it must be very finely done indeed, when -one outside the national thought, such as I, sees in that representation -a flame. Two colossal bronze monsters with grinning countenances and -curly manes, conventional lions, mounted on dragon-carved pedestals, -stand before the entrance to the fourth temple or hall of audience, and -here was what the crowd had come to see, the lighthearted, cheerful, -merry crowd, that were making high holiday, here was the altar to the -dead. - -Overhead were the tiled roofs, and of all the colours of the rainbow -surely none could have been chosen better than the golden brown of those -tiles to harmonise with the clear blue of the glorious sky above it, no -line to cut it could have been so appropriate as the gentle sweep of the -curve of a Chinese roof. There was a little grass growing on the roofs, -sere and withered, but a faint breeze just stirred its tops, and it -toned with the prevailing golden brown in one glorious beauty. Where -else in the world could one get such an effect? Only in Australia have I -seen such a sky, and there it was never wedded to such a glow of colour -as that it looks down {084}upon in Peking. The men who built this palace -in a bygone age, built broadly, truly, for all time. - -[Illustration: 0137] - -And then, it was surely as if some envious spirit had entered in and -marred all this loveliness--no, that would be impossible, but struck a -discordant and jarring note that should perhaps emphasise in our minds -the beauty that is eternal--for all the front of that temple, which as -far as I could see was pinkish red, with under the eaves that beautiful -dark blue, light blue, and green, that the Chinese know so well how to -mingle, was covered with the most garish, commonplace decorations, made -for the most part of paper, red, violent Reckitt's blue, yellow, and -white. From every point of vantage ran strings of flags, cheap common -little flags of all nations, bits of string were tied to the marble -clouds, and they fluttered from them, and the great wonderful bronze -lions contrived to look coy in frills that would not have disgraced a -Yorkshire ham. The altar on the northern platform was hidden behind a -trellis-work of gaily coloured paper, and there were offerings upon it -of fruit and cakes in great profusion, all set out before a portrait of -the late Empress. On either side were two choirs of priests, Buddhists -and Taoists in gorgeous robes of red and orange. What faith the dead -Empress held I do not know, but the average Chinese, while he is the -prince of materialists, believing nothing he cannot see and explain, -has also a keen eye to the main chance, and on his death-bed is apt to -summon priests of all faiths so as to let no chance of a comfortable -future slip; but possibly it was more from motives of policy than from -any idea of aiding the dead woman that these representatives of the -two great faiths of China were {085}summoned. On the rights behind a -trellis-work of bright paper, one choir sat in a circle, beat gongs, -struck their bells and intoned; and on the left, behind a like -trellis-work, the other choir knelt before low desks and also solemnly -intoned. Their Mongolian faces were very impassive, they looked neither -to the right nor the left, but kept time to the ceaseless beat of their -leader's stick upon a globe of wood split across the middle like a -gaping mouth emblematical of a fish and called mu yii--or wooden fish. -What were they repeating? Prayers for the dead? Eulogies on her who had -passed? Or comfort for the living? Not one of these things. Probably -they were intoning Scriptures in Tibetan, an unknown tongue to them -very likely, but come down to them through the ages and sanctified by -thousands of ceaseless repetitions. - -And the people came, passed up the steps, bowed by the direction of the -usher--in European clothes--three times to the dead Empress's portrait, -and the altar, were thanked by General Chang, the Military Commandant, -and passed on by the brightly clad intoning priests down into the crowd -in the great courtyard again. It was weird to find myself taking part in -such a ceremony. Stranger still to watch the people who went up and down -those steps. In all the world surely never was such an extraordinary -funeral gathering. I am very sure that never shall I attend such -another. There was such a mingling of the ancient and the blatantly -modern. To the sound of weird, archaic, Eastern music the living Buddha, -clad all in yellow, in his yellow sedan chair, borne by four bearers in -dark blue with Tartar caps on their heads, made his reverence, and was -followed {086}by a band of Chinese children from some American mission -school, who, with misguided zeal sang fervently at the top of their -shrill childish voices “Down by the Swanee River” and “Auld Lang -Syne,” and then soldiers in modern uniform of khaki or bright blue were -followed by police officers in black and gold. The wrong note was struck -by the “Swanee River,” the high officials dwelt upon it, for the -Chinese does not look to advantage in these garbs, he looks what he is -makeshift, a bad imitation, and the jarring was only relieved when the -Manchu princes came in white mourning sheepskins and black Tartar caps. -They may be dissolute and decadent, have all the vices that new China -accuses them of, but at least they looked polished and dignified -gentlemen, at their ease and in their place. It does not matter, -possibly. The President once said that to petition for a monarchy was an -act of fanaticism worthy of being punished by imprisonment, and so the -old order must in a measure pass; even in China, the unchanging, there -must come, it is a law of nature, some little change, and when I looked -at the bows and arrows of the Manchu guard leaning against the wall -I realised that it would be impossible to keep things as they were, -however picturesque. Still khaki uniforms, if utilitarian, are ugly, -and American folk-songs, under such conditions, struck the last note in -bathos, or pathos. It depends on the point of view. - -On the white paper tabs, attached to our black chrysanthemums, was -written something about the New Republic, but it might have been the -spirit of the Empress at home, so cheerful and bent on enjoyment was -the crowd which thronged the {087}courtyard. The bands played, sometimes -Eastern music, strange and haunting, sometimes airs from the European -operas, there were various tents erected with seats and tables, and -refreshments were served, oranges, and ginger, and tea, and cakes of all -kinds, both in the tents and at little altar-like stands dotted about -the courtyard even at the very foot of the pedestals of the great -conventional lions. And the people walked round looking at everything, -peeping through every crevice in the hopes of seeing some part of the -palace that was not open to them, chatting, laughing, greeting each -other as they would have done at a garden-party in Europe. There were -all sorts of people, dressed in all sorts of fashions. New China looked -at best common-plage and ordinary in European clothes; old China was -dignified in a queue, silken jacket and brocaded petticoat, generally -of a lighter colour; Manchu ladies wore high head-dresses and brilliant -silken coats, blue or pink, lavender or grey, and Chinese ladies -tottered along on tiny, bound feet that reminded me of the hoofs of a -deer, and the most fashionable, unmarried girls wore short coats with -high collars covering their chins, and tight-fitting trousers, often of -gaily coloured silk, while the older women added skirts, and the poorer -classes just wore a long coat of cotton, generally blue, with trousers -tightly girt in at the ankles, and their maimed feet in tiny little -embroidered shoes. European dress the Chinese woman very seldom affects -yet, and their jet black hair, plastered together with some sort of -substance that makes it smooth and shiny, is never covered, but flowers -and jewelled pins are stuck in it. Occasionally--I {088}did on this -day--you will see a woman with a black embroidered band round the -front of her head, but this, I think, denotes that she is of the Roman -Catholic faith, for the Roman Catholics have been in China far longer -than any other Christian sect, and they invented this head-dress for the -Chinese woman who for ages has been accustomed to wear none, because of -the Pauline injunction, that it was a shame for a woman to appear in -a church with her head uncovered. Old China did not approve of a woman -going about much at all, and here at this funeral I heard many old China -hands remarking how strange it was to see so many women mingling with -the throng. It marked the change; but such a very short time back, such -a thing would have been impossible. - -There were numbers of palace eunuchs too--keepers of the women who, -apparently, may now show their faces to all men, and they were clad all -in the mourning white, with here and there one, for some reason or other -I cannot fathom, in black. The demand for eunuchs was great when the -Emperor dwelt, the one man, in the Forbidden City surrounded by his -women, and they say that very often the number employed rose to ten -thousand. Constantly, as some in the ranks grew old, fell sick, or died, -they had to be replaced, and, so conservative is China, the recruits -were generally drawn from certain villages whose business it was to -supply the palace eunuchs. Often, of course, the operation was performed -in their infancy, but often, very often, a man was allowed to grow up, -marry, and have children, before he was made ready for the palace. - -“Impossible,” I said, “he would not consent {089}then. Never.” And -my informant laughed pitifully. “Ah,” said she, “you don't know the -struggle in China. Anything for a livelihood.” - -Some of the eunuchs wanted their photographs taken, and I was willing -enough if they would only give me room. I wanted one in white, but they -desired one in black, either because he was the most important or the -least important, I know not which, and they sat him on a stone that had -been a seat perhaps when Kublai Khan built the palace; and the keeper -of the women, the representative of the old cruel past, that pressed -men and women alike into the service of the great, looked in my camera -sheepish as a schoolboy kissed in public by his maiden aunt. - -There were coolies, too, in the ordinary blue cotton busy about the -work that the entertaining of such a multitude necessarily entails, and -everyone looked cheerful and happy, as, after all, why should they not, -for death is the common lot, and must come to all of us, and they had -seen and heard of the dead Empress about as much as the dweller in -Chicago had. They were merely taking what she, or her representatives, -gave with frank goodwill, and enjoying themselves accordingly. - -Against the walls they kept putting up long scrolls covered with Chinese -characters, sentences in praise of the virtues of the Empress, and sent, -as we would send funeral wreaths, to honour the dead, and presently a -wind arose and tore at them and they fluttered out from the walls -like long streamers, and as the wind grew wilder, some were tom down -altogether. But that was on the afternoon of the second day, when worse -things happened. {090}I went down to the Forbidden City after tiffin, and -behold, outside the great gates, looking up longingly and murmuring -a little, was a great crowd that grew momentarily greater. The doors, -studded with brazen nails, were fast closed, and little parties of -soldiers with their knapsacks upon their backs were evidently telling -the crowd to keep back, and very probably, since it was China, the -reason why they should keep back. The reason was, of course, lost upon -me, I only knew that, before I realised what was happening, I was in the -centre of a crushing crowd that was gradually growing more unmanageable. -A Chinese crowd is wonderfully good-natured, far better-tempered than a -European crowd of a like size would be, but when a crowd grows great, -it is hardly responsible for its actions. Besides, a Chinese crowd has -certain little unpleasant habits. The men picked up the little children, -for the tiniest tots came to this great festival, and held them on their -shoulders, but they coughed, and hawked, and spit, and wiped their noses -in the primitive way Adam probably did before he thought of using a -fig-leaf as a pocket handkerchief, and at last I felt that the only -thing to be done was to edge my way to the fringe of the press, because, -even if the doors were opened, it would have seemed like taking my life -in my hands to go into one of those tunnels with their uneven pavements -in such a crush. Once down it would be hopeless to think of getting up -again. - -{091}After a time, however, they did open the doors, and the people surged -in. When all was clear I followed, and once inside heard how the people -in the great courtyard, in spite of police and soldiers, had swarmed up -and threatened by their rush, the good-natured, purposeless rush of a -crowd, to carry away offerings, altar, choirs and decorations, and, -very naturally, those in authority had closed the doors against all -new-comers until the people had been got well in hand again. It had -taken some time. Before the altar was a regular scrimmage, and after the -crowd had passed it left behind it, shoes, and caps, and portions of its -clothing which were thrown back into the courtyard to be gathered up -by those who could recognise their own property. By the time I arrived -things were settling down. We had to wait in the second courtyard, and -the women, Chinese ladies with their little aching feet, and Manchus in -their high head-dresses sat themselves down on the edge of the causeway, -because standing on pavement is wearisome, and there waited patiently -till the doors were opened, and inside everything was soon going again -as gaily as at an ordinary garden-party in Somerset. - -[Illustration: 0145] - -“Do you like Chinese tea?” asked a Chinese lady of me in slow and -stilted English. I said I did. - -“Come,” said she, taking my hand in her cold little one, and hand in -hand we walked, or rather I walked and she tottered, across to one of -the great pavilions that had been erected, and there she sat me down and -a cup of the excellent tea was brought me, and every one of the Chinese -ladies present, out of the kindly hospitality of her heart towards the -lonely foreigner, gave me, with her own fair and shapely little hands, -a cake from the dish that was set before us by a white-clad servant. -Frankly, I wished they wouldn't be so hospitable. I wanted to say I -was quite capable of choosing my own cake, {092}and that I had a rooted -objection to other people pawing the food I intended to eat, but it -seemed it might be rude, and I did not wish to nip kindly feelings in -the bud. And then, as the evening shadows drew long, I went back to -my hotel, sorry to leave the Forbidden City, glad to have had this one -little glimpse of the strange and wonderful that is bound to pass away. - -The Empress died in February, in March they held this, can we call it -lying-in-state, but it was not till the 3rd of April that her funeral -cortège moved from the Forbidden City, and the streets of Peking were -thronged with those who came to pay her respect. Did they mourn? Well, I -don't know. Hardly, I think, was it mourning in the technical sense. -The man in the street in England is far enough away from the king on the -throne, but in China it seems as if he might inhabit a different sphere. - -The sky was a cloudless blue, and the bright golden sunshine poured down -hot as a July day in England, or a March day in Australia, there was -not a wisp of cloud in the sky; in all the five weeks that I had been in -China there had never been the faintest indication that such a thing was -ever expected, ever known, but at first the brilliancy had been cold, -now it was warm, the winter was past, and from the great Tartar wall, -looking over the Tartar City--the city that the Mings conquered and the -Manchus made their own--the forest of trees that hid the furthest houses -was all tinged with the faintest, daintiest green; and soon to the glory -of blue and gold, the blue of the sky and the gold of the sunshine, -would be added the vivid green that {093}tells of the new-born life. And -one woman who had held high place here, one sad woman, who had missed -most that was good in fife, if rumours be true, was to be carried to her -long home that day. - -The funeral procession started from the Eastern Gate of the Forbidden -City, came slowly down the broad street known now as Morrison Street, -turned into the way that passes the Legations and runs along by the -glacis whereon the conquering Western nations have declared that, for -their safety, no Chinese shall build a house, the Europeans call it -the Viale d'ltalia, because it passes by the Italian Legation, and the -Chinese by the more euphonious name of Chang an Cheeh--the street of -Eternal Repose--a curious commentary on the fighting that went on there -in 1900, into the Chien Men Street, that is the street of the main gate -through which it must go to the railway station. - -It seemed to me strange this ruler of an ancient people, buried with -weird and barbaric rites, was to be taken to her last resting-place by -the modern railway, that only a very few years ago her people, at -the height of their anti-foreign feeling, had wished to oust from the -country--root and branch. But since the funeral procession was going to -the railway station it must pass through the Chien Men, and the curtain -wall that ran round the great gate offered an excellent point of vantage -from which I, with the rest of the European population, might see all -there was to be seen. And for this great occasion, the gate in the -south of the curtain wall, the gate that is always shut because only the -highest in the land may pass through, was open, {094}for the highest in -the land, the last of the Manchu rulers, was dead. - -I looked down into the walled-in space between the four gateway arches, -as into an arena, and the whole pageant passed below me. First of all -marching with deliberate slowness, that contrives to be dignified -if they are only carrying coals, came about twenty camels draped in -imperial yellow with tails of sable, also an imperial badge hanging from -their necks. The Manchus were a hunting people, and though they have -been dwellers in towns for the last two hundred and fifty years the fact -was not forgotten now that their last ruler had died. She was going on -a journey, a long, long journey; she might want to rest by the way, -therefore her camels bore tent-poles and tents of the imperial colour. -They held their heads high and went noiselessly along, pad, pad, pad, -as their like have gone to and fro from Peking for thousands of years. -Mongol, or Manchu, or son of Han, it is all the same to the camel. He -ministers to man's needs because he must, but he himself is unchanging -as the ages, fixed in his way as the sky above, whether he bears grain -from the north, or coal from the Western Hills, or tents and drapery for -an imperial funeral. Then there were about fifty white ponies, without -saddle or trapping of any kind, each led by a mafoo clad in blue like an -ordinary coolie. The Peking carts that followed with wheels and tilts -of yellow were of a past age, but, after all, does not the King of Great -Britain and Ireland on State occasions ride in a most old-world coach. -And then I noticed things came in threes. {095}Three carts, three yellow -palankeens full of artificial flowers, three sedan chairs also yellow -covered, and all around these groups were attendants clad in shimmering -rainbow muslin and thick felt hats, from the pointed crown of which -projected long yellow feathers. Slowly, slowly, the procession moved on, -broken now and again by bands of soldiers in full marching order. There -was a troop of cavalry of the Imperial Guard they told me, but how could -it be imperial when their five-coloured lance pennons fluttering gaily -in the air, clearly denoted the New Republic? There was a detachment of -mounted police in black and yellow--the most modern of uniforms--there -were more attendants in gaily coloured robes carrying wooden halberds, -embroidered fans, banners, and umbrellas, and the yellow palankeens with -the artificial flowers were escorted by Buddhist lamas in yellow robes -crossed with crimson sashes, each with a stick of smouldering incense -in his hand. In those palankeens were the dead woman's seals, her power, -the power that she must now give up. I could see the smoke, and the -scent of the incense rose to our nostrils as we stood on the wall forty -feet above. Between the various groups, between the yellow lamas who -dated from the days of the Buddha long before the Christ, between the -khaki-clad troops and the yellow and black police, things of yesterday, -came palace attendants tossing into the air white paper discs. The dead -Empress would want money for her journey, and here it was, distributed -with a lavish hand. It was only white paper, blank and soiled by the -dust of the road, when I picked it up a little later on, but for her it -would serve all purposes. - -[Illustration: 0151] - -The approach of the bier itself was heralded by the striking together -of two slabs of wood by a {096}couple of attendants, and before it came, -clad all in the white of mourning, the palace eunuchs who had guarded -her privacy when in life; a few Court attendants in black, and then -between lines of khaki-uniformed modern infantry in marching order, the -bier covered with yellow satin, vivid, brilliant, embroidered with red -phoenixes that marked her high rank--the dragon for the Emperor, the -phoenix for his consort. The two pieces of wood clacked together harshly -and the enormous bier moved on. It was mounted on immense yellow poles -and borne by eighty men dressed in brilliant robes of variegated muslin, -red being the predominating colour. They wore hats with yellow feathers -coming out of the crown, and they staggered under their burden, as might -the slaves in Nineveh or Babylon have faltered and groaned beneath their -burdens, two thousand years ago. - -Out of the northern archway came the camels and the horses, the -soldiers, the lamas, the eunuchs, out came all the quaint gay -paraphernalia--umbrellas, and fans, palankeens, and sedan chairs, and -banners--and slowly crossed the great courtyard, the arena; a stop, -a long pause, then on again, and the southern gate swallowed them up, -again the clack of the strips of wood, and the mighty bier, borne on the -shoulders of the Babylonish slaves. Slowly, slowly, then it stood still, -and we felt as if it must stay there for ever, as if the eighty men who -upheld it must be suffering unspeakable things. Once more the clack of -the strips of wood, and the southern archway in due course swallowed -it up, too, with the few halberdiers and the detachment of soldiery who -completed the procession. {097}Outside the Chien Men was the railway -station, the crowded people--crowded like Chinese flies in summer, and -that is saying a great deal--were cleared away by the soldiers, the bier -was lifted on to a car, the bands struck up a weird funeral march, the -soldiers presented arms, the lama priests fell on their knees, and then -very, very slowly the train steamed out of the station, and the last of -the Manchu Empresses was borne to her long home. - -Was it impressive I asked myself as I went down the ramp? And the answer -was a little difficult to find. Quaint and strange and Eastern, for the -thing that has struck me so markedly in China was here marked as ever. -It was like the paper money that was thrown with such lavish generosity -into the air. Amongst all the magnificence was the bizarre note--that -discordant touch of tawdriness. Beneath the gorgeous robes of the -attendants, plainly to be seen, were tatters and uncleanliness, the -soldiers in their ill-fitting uniforms looked makeshift, and the police -wanted dusting. And yet--and again I must say and yet, for want of -better words--behind it all was some reality, something that gripped -like the haunting sound of the dirge, or the stately march of the camels -that have defied all change. - - - - -CHAPTER VI--A TIME OF REJOICING - -{098} - -_The charm of Peking--A Chinese theatre--Electric light--The custodian -of the theatre--Bargaining for a seat--The orchestra--The scenery of -Shakespeare--Realistic gesture--A city wall--A mountain spirit--Gorgeous -dresses--Bundles of towels--Women's gallery--Armed patrols--Rain in -April--The food of the peasant--Famine--The value of a daughter--God be -thanked._ - -|The Legation Quarter in Peking, as I was reminded twenty times a day, -is not China, it is not even Peking, but it is a pleasant place in which -to stay; a place where one may foregather and exchange ideas with -one's kind, and yet whence one may go forth and see all Peking; more, -may see places where still the foreigner is something to be stared at, -and wondered at, and where the old, unchanging civilisation still goes -on. Ordinarily if you would see something new, something that gives -a fresh sensation, it is necessary to go out from among your kind -and brave discomfort, or spend a small fortune to guard against that -discomfort, but here, in Peking, you who are interested in such things -may see an absolutely new world, and yet have all the comforts, except -reading matter, to which you have been accustomed in London. It was no -wonder I lingered in Peking. Always there was something {099}new to see, -always there was something fresh to learn, and at any moment, within -five minutes, I could step out into another world, the world of Marco -Polo, the world the Jesuit Fathers saw when first the Western nations -were beginning to realise there were any countries besides their own. - -[Illustration: 0157] - -There are people--I have heard them--who complain that Peking is dull. -Do not believe them. But, after all, perhaps I am not the best judge. As -a young girl, trammelled by trying to do the correct thing and behave -as a properly brought up young lady ought, I have sometimes, say at an -afternoon call when I hope I was behaving prettily, found life dull, but -since I have gone my own way I have been sad sometimes, lonely often, -but dull never, and for that God be thanked. But Peking, I think, would -be a very difficult place in which to be really dull. - -It is even possible to go to the theatre every night, but it is a -Chinese theatre and that will go a long way. Nevertheless, I felt it was -a thing I should like to see; so one evening two of my friends took me -to the best theatre that was open. The best was closed for political -reasons they said, because the new Government, not as sure of itself as -it would like to be, did not wish the people to assemble together. This -was a minor theatre, a woman's theatre; that is one where only women -were the actors, quite a new departure in the Celestial world, for until -about a year before the day of which I write, no woman was ever seen -upon the stage, and her parts, as they were in the old days in Europe, -were taken by men and boys. Even now, men and women never appear on the -stage together, never, never do the sexes {100}mingle in China, and the -women who act take the very lowest place in the social scale. - -One cold night in March three rickshaws put us down at an open doorway -in the Chinese City outside the Tartar wall. The Chinese the greatest -connoisseurs of pictures do not as yet think much of posters, though the -British and American Tobacco Company is doing its best to educate them -up to that level, so outside this theatre the door was not decorated -with photographs of the lovely damsels to be seen within, clad in as few -clothes as the censor will allow, but the intellects of the patrons were -appealed to, and all around the doors were bright red sheets of -paper, on which the delights offered for the evening were inscribed in -characters of gold. - -We went along a narrow passage with a floor of hard, beaten earth, and -dirty whitewashed walls on either side, along such a passage I could -imagine went those who first listened to the sayings of Hamlet, Prince -of Denmark. The light was dim, the thrifty Chinaman was not going to -waste the precious and expensive light of compressed gas where it was -not really needed, and from behind the wall came the weird strains of -Chinese music. There appeared to be only one door, and here sat a fat -and smiling Chinese, who explained to my friends that by the rules of -the theatre, the men and women were divided, and that I must go to the -women's gallery. They demurred. It would be very dull for me, who could -not understand a word of the language, to sit alone. Could no exception -be made in my favour? The doorkeeper was courteous as only a Chinese -can be, and said that for his part, {101}he had no objection; but the -custodian of the theatre, put there by the Government to ensure law and -order, would object. - -I wanted badly to stay with these men who could explain to me all that -was going on, so we sent for the custodian, another smiling gentleman, -not quite so fat, in the black and yellow uniform of the military -police. He listened to all we had to say, sympathised, but declared that -the regulations must be carried out. My friends put it to him that the -regulations were archaic, and that it was high time they were altered. -He smilingly agreed. They were archaic, very; but then you see, they -were the regulations. He was here to see that they were carried out, and -he suggested, as an alternative, that we should take one of the boxes -at the side. The question of sitting in front was dismissed, and we gave -ourselves to the consideration of a box for which six dollars, that -is twelve shillings English currency, or three dollars American, were -demanded. We demurred, it seems you always question prices in China. We -told the doorkeeper that the price was very high, and that as we were -sitting where we did not wish to sit, he ought to come down. He did. -Shades of Keith and Prowse! Two dollars! - -We went up some steep and narrow steps of the most primitive order, were -admitted to a large hall lighted by compressed gas--in Cambulac! here -in the heart of an ancient civilisation--surrounded by galleries with -fronts of a dainty lattice-work of polished wood, such as the Chinese -employ for windows, and we took our places in a box, humbly furnished -with bare benches and a wooden table. Just beneath us was the stage, and -the play was in {102}full swing--actors, property men, and orchestra all -on at once. It was large and square, raised a little above the people in -the body of the hall and surrounded by a little low screen of the same -dainty lattice-work. At the back was the orchestra, composed only of men -in ordinary coolie dress--dark blue cotton--with long queues. There -were castanets, and a drum, cymbals, native fiddle, and various -brazen instruments that looked like brass trays, and they all played -untiringly, with an energy worthy of a better cause, and with the -apparent intention--it couldn't have been so really--of drowning -the actors. Yet taken altogether the result was strangely quaint and -Eastern. - -The entertainment consisted of a number of little plays lasting from -half an hour to about an hour. There were never more than half a dozen -people on the stage at once, very often only two in the play altogether, -and what it was all about we could only guess after all, for even my -friends, who could speak ordinary Chinese fluently, could not understand -much that was said. Possibly this was because every actor, instead of -using the ordinary conversational tone, adapted as we adapt it to the -stage, used a high, piercing falsetto that was extremely unnatural, and -reminded me of nothing on this earth that I know of except perhaps a -pig-killing. Still even I gathered something of the story of the play -as it progressed, for the gestures of these women, unlike their voices, -were extremely dramatic, and some of the situations were not to be -mistaken. Scenery was as it was in Shakespeare's day. It was understood. -But for all the bare crudity, the dresses of the actors which belonged -to a previous age, {103}whether they were supposed to represent men or -women, were most rich and beautiful. The general, with his hideously -painted face and his long black beard of thread, wore a golden -embroidered robe that must have been worth a small fortune; a soldier, -apparently a sort of Dugald Dalgety, who pits himself against a scholar -clad in modest dark colours, appeared in a blue satin of the most -delicate shade, beautifully embroidered with gorgeous lotus flowers and -palms; and the principal ladies, who were really rather pretty in spite -of their highly painted faces and weird head-dresses, wore robes of -delicate loveliness that one of my companions, whose business it was to -know about such matters, told me must have been, like the general's, of -great value. The comic servant or country man wore a short jumper and -a piece of white paper and powder about his nose. It certainly did make -him look funny. The dignified scholar was arrayed all in black, the -soldier wore the gayest of embroidered silks and satins, the landlady of -the inn or boarding-house, a pleasant, smiling woman with roses in her -hair and tiny maimed feet, had a pattern of black lace-work painted on -her forehead, and when the male characters had to be very fierce indeed, -they wore long and flowing beards, beards to which no Chinaman, I fear -me, can ever hope to attain, for the Chinaman is not a hairy man. When a -gallant gentleman with tight sleeves which proclaimed him a warrior, and -a long beard of bright red thread which made him a very fierce warrior -indeed, snapped his fingers and lifted up his legs, lifted them up -vehemently, you knew that he was getting over a wall or mounting his -horse. You could take your choice. A mountain, the shady {104}side of -it, was represented by one panel of a screen which leaned drunkenly -against a very ordinary chair, giving shelter to a very evil spirit with -a dress that represented a leopard, and a face of the grimmest and most -terrifying of those animals. - -This was a play that required much property to be displayed, for a -general with a face painted all black and white and long black beard, -with his army of five, took refuge behind a stout city wall that was -made of thin blue cotton stuff supported on four bamboo poles, and this -convenient wall marched on to the stage in the hands of a couple of -stout coolies. A wicked mountain spirit outside the walls did terrible -things. Ever and again flashes of fire burst out after his speech, and -I presume you were not supposed to see the coolie who manipulated that -fire, though he stood on the stage as large as any actors in the piece. - -It is hard, too, talking in that high falsetto against the shrieking, -strident notes of the music, so naturally the actors constantly required -a little liquid refreshment, and an attendant was prompt in offering -tea in tiny round basins; and nobody saw anything incongruous in his -standing there with the teapot handy, and in slack moments taking a sip -himself. - -The fun apparently consisted in repartee, and every now and then, -the audience, who were silent and engrossed, instead of applauding -spontaneously, ejaculated, as if at a word of command, “Hao!” which -means “Good!” - -That audience was the best-behaved and most attentive I have ever seen. -It consisted mostly of men, as far as I could see, of the middle class. -{105}They were packed close together, with here and there a little table -or bench among them; and up and down went vendors of apples, oranges, -pieces of sugar-cane, cakes and sweetmeats. - -There were also people who supplied hot, damp towels. A man stood here -and there in the audience, and from the outer edge of the theatre, came -hurtling to him, over the heads of the people, a bundle of these towels. -For a cent or so apiece he distributed them, the members of the audience -taking a refreshing wipe of face and head and hands and handing the -towels back. When the purveyor of the towels had used up all his stock, -and got them all back again, he tied them up into a neat bundle, and -threw them back the way they had come, receiving a fresh stock in -return. Never did a bundle of towels fail in reaching its appointed -place, and scores of cents must the providers have pocketed. For the -delight of ventilation is not appreciated in China, and to say that -theatre was stuffy is a mild way of putting it. The warm wet towel -must have given a sort of refreshment. They offered us some up in -the dignified seclusion of our box, but we felt we could sustain life -without washing our faces with doubtful towels during the progress of -the entertainment. Tea was brought, too, excellent Chinese tea, and I -drank it with pleasure. I drink Chinese tea without either milk or sugar -as a matter of course now; but that night at the Chinese theatre I was -only trying it and wondering could I drink it at all. - -Opposite us was the women's gallery, full of Chinese and Manchu ladies, -with high headdresses and highly painted faces. The Chinese ladies often -paint their faces, but their attempts at {106}decoration pale before -that of the Manchus, who put on the colour with such right goodwill that -every woman when she is dressed in her smartest, looks remarkably like a -sign-board. The wonder is that anyone could possibly be found who could -admire the unnatural effect. Someone, I suppose, there is, or it would -not be done, but no men went near the women's gallery that evening. It -would have been the grossest breach of decorum for a man to do any such -thing, and the painted ladies drank their tea by themselves. - -Somewhere about midnight, earlier than usual, consequent, I imagine, -upon the disturbed state of the country, the entertainment ended with a -perfect crash of music, and the most orderly audience in the world went -out into the streets of the Chinese City, into the clear night. Only -in very recent years, they tell me, have the streets of Peking been -lighted. Formerly the people went to bed at dusk, but they seem to have -taken very kindly to the change, for the streets were thronged. There -were people on foot, people in rickshaws, people in the springless -Peking carts, and important personages with outriders and footmen in -the glass broughams beloved by the Chinese; and there were the military -police everywhere, now at night with rifles across their shoulders. -Here, disciplining this most orderly crowd, they struck me as being -strangely incongruous. I wondered at those police then, and I wonder -still. What are they for? Whatever the reason, there they were at every -few yards. Never have I had such a strange home-coming from a theatre. -Down on us forty feet high frowned the walls built in past ages, we -crossed the Beggars' {107}Bridge of glorious marble, we went under the -mighty archway of the Chien Men, and we entered the Legation Quarter -guarded like a fortress, and I went to bed meditating on the difference -between a Chinese play and a modern musical comedy. They have, I fancy, -one thing in common. They are interesting enough to see for the first -time, but a little of them goes a long way. - -I went to bed under a clear and cloudless sky, and the next morning, to -my astonishment, it was raining. I have, of course, seen rain many, many -times, and many, many times have I seen heavier rain than fell all this -April day in Peking, but never before, not even in my own country where -rain is the great desideratum, have I seen rain better worth recording. - -It was indeed this April day rain at last! - -“To everything there is a season,” says the preacher, and the spring is -the time for a little rain in Northern China. In England people suppose -it rains three hundred and sixty days out of the three hundred and -sixty-five, except in Leap Year when we manage to get in another rainy -day, but as a matter of fact, I believe the average is about one hundred -and fifty wet days in the year, with a certain number more in which -clouds in the sky blot out the sunshine. In the north of China, on the -other hand, there had been, to all intents and purposes, no cloud in -the sky since the summer rains of 1912, till this rain in April which I -looked out upon. Is not rain like that worth recording? Still more do -I feel it is worth recording when I think of what that day's rain, that -seemed so little to me, meant to millions of people. All through the -bitter cold winter the {108}country lay in the grip of the frost, -but the sun reigned in a heaven of peerless blue, and the light was -brilliant with a brilliancy that makes the sunshine of a June day in -England a poor, pale thing. The people counted for their crops on the -rain that would come in due season, the rain in the spring. March came -with the thaw, and the winds from the north lifted the loose soil -into the air in clouds of dust. But March passed alternating brilliant -sunshine and clouds of dust, and there was never a cloud in the sky, -never a drop of moisture for the gasping earth. April came--would it go -on like this till June? Rain that comes in due season is necessary to -the crops that are the wealth, nay the very life of Northern China. - -From the beams of the peasant's cottage hang the cobs of corn, each one -counted; in jars or boxes is his little store of grain, millet--just -bird-seed in point of fact--he has a few dried persimmons perhaps -and--nothing else. Twice a day the housewife measures out the grain for -the meal--she knows, the tiniest child in the household knows exactly -how long it will last with full measure, how it may be spun out over a -few more dreary, hunger-aching days, how then, if the rain has not come, -if the crops have failed, famine will stalk in the land, famine, cruel, -pitiless, and from his grip there is no escaping. - -[Illustration: 0169] - -Think of it, as I did that April day in Peking, when I watched the rain -pelting down. Think of the dumb, helpless peasant watching the cloudless -blue sky and the steadily diminishing store of grain, watching, hoping, -for the faintest wisp of white cloud that shall give promise of a little -moisture. {109}They tell me, those who know, that the Chinaman is a -fatalist, that he never looks so far ahead, but do they not judge him -with Western eyes? True he seldom complains, but he tills his fields so -carefully that he must see in imagination the crops they are to produce, -he must know, how can he help knowing, that if there be no harvest, -there is an end to his home, his family, his children; that if perchance -his life be spared, it will be grey and empty, broken, desolate, scarce -worth living. Every scanty possession will have to be sold to buy food -in a ruinously high market, even the loved children, and no one who -has seen them together can doubt that the Chinese deeply love their -children, must go, though for the little daughter whose destination will -be a brothel of one of the great cities, but two dollars, four pitiful -shillings, may be hoped for, and when that is eaten up, the son sold -into slavery will bring very little more. To sell their children sounds -terrible, but what can they do? Some must be sacrificed that the others -may have a chance of life, and even if they are not sacrificed, their -fate is to die slowly under the bright sky, in the relentless sunshine. -This is the spectre that haunts the peasant. This is the thing that has -befallen his fathers, that has befallen him, that may befall him again -any year, that no care on his part can guard him from, that the clear -sky for ever threatens. - -“From plague, pestilence and famine, Good Lord deliver us.” - -Does ever that Litany to the Most High go up in English cathedral with -such prayerful fervour, such thorough realisation of what is meant -by the {110}supplication, as is in the heart of the peasant mother in -China, carefully measuring out the grain for the meal. Only she would -put it the other way. “F rom famine, and the plague and pestilence that -stalk in the wake of the famine, oh pitiful, merciful God deliver us!” - -And when I took all this in, when I heard men who had seen the suffering -describe it, was it any wonder that I rejoiced at the dull grey sky, -at the sound of the rain on the roof, at the water rushing down the -gutters. - -On the gently sloping hill-sides of Manchuria, where they grow the -famous bean, the hill-sides that I had seen in their winter array, on -the wide plains of Mongolia, where only the far horizon bounds the view, -and you march on to a yet farther horizon where the Mongol tends his -flocks and herds, and the industrious Chinaman, pushing out beyond the -protecting wall, has planted beans and sown oats, in Honan, where the -cotton and the maize and the kaoliang grow, all along the gardens and -grain-fields of Northern China, had come the revivifying rain. The day -before, under the blue sky, lay the bare brown earth, acres and acres, -miles and miles of it, carefully tilled, nowhere in the world have I -seen such carefully tilled land, full of promise, but of promise only, -of a rich harvest. Then, not hoped for so late, a boon hardly to be -prayed for, welcome as sunshine never was welcome, came the rain, six -hours steady rain, and the spectre of famine, ever so close to the -Chinese peasant, for a time drifted into the background with old, -unhappy, long-forgotten things. Next morning on all the khaki-coloured -country outside Peking was a tinge of {111}green, and we knew that a -bountiful harvest was ensured, knew that soon the country would be -a beautiful emerald. The house-mother, the patient, uncomplaining, -ignorant, Chinese house-mother, might fill her pot joyfully, the -house-father might look at his little daughter, with the red thread -twisted in her hair, and know, that for a year at least, she was safe in -his sheltering arms, for the blessed rain had come, God given. - -Peking in the rain is an uncomfortable place. It is built for the -sunshine. The streets of the city were knee-deep in mud, the hu t'ungs -were impassable for a man on foot unless he would be mud up to the -knees, for there had been six hours solid downpour, and every moment -it continued was worth pounds to the country. What was a twenty-five -million loan with its heavy interest, against such a rain as this? More -than one hundred thousand people were affected by the downpour, were -glad and rejoicing that day at the good-fortune that had befallen -them. This mass of human beings, at the very lowest computation had -considerably more than twenty-five million pounds rained down upon it -in the course of six hours. There came with that rain, that blurred the -windows of my room, prosperity for the land, and, for a time at -least, peace, for peace and good harvests in China are sometimes -interchangeable terms. What did it matter to Northern China at that -moment that the nations were bickering over the loan, that America was -promising, Britain hesitating, Russia threatening? What did it matter -whether Emperor, President, or Dictator, was in power? What did it -matter that the national representatives hesitated to come to the -capital? {112}What did it matter what mistakes they made? What does the -peasant tilling his field, the woman filling her cooking-pot know about -these things? What do they care? A mightier factor than these, a greater -power than man's had stepped in. God be thanked, in China that day it -rained. - - - - -CHAPTER VII--ONE OF THE WONDERS OF THE WORLD - -{113} - -_Courteous Americans--Nankou Pass--Beacon towers--Inaccessible -hills--“Balbus has built a wall”--Tiny towns--“Watchman, what of -the night?”--Deserted watch-towers---Thoughtful Chinese waiter--Ming -Tombs--Chinese carrying chair--Stony way--Greatest p'ia lou in -China--Amphitheatre among the barren hills--Tomb of Yung Lo--Trunks of -sandal-wood trees--Enterprising Chinese guard._ - -|Wherever I might wander in China, and with the rumours of war that -were in the air, it looked as if my wanderings were going to be somewhat -restricted, to one place I was bound to wander, and that was the Great -Wall of China. Even in the days of my grandmother's curios, I had heard -about that, one of the wonders of the world, and I could never have left -China without seeing it. - -“You can do it in a couple of days,” said the young man, who had -chastened me gently when first I entered Peking. “I'm going up on -Tuesday, You'd better come along. The poet's coming too,” he added. - -{114}The poet, a real live poet, who thought a deal more about his binding -than his public, was like me I think, he did not like seeing places in -crowds, and at first he did not give us much of his society. There was -also a millionaire, an American millionaire, his little wife, his -big daughter, and his angular {114}maiden sister. They had an -observation-car fixed on to the train, and the guard came along and said -that if we ordinary travellers, who were not millionaires, cared to come -in the car, the millionaire would be very pleased. - -I have travelled so much by myself that the chance of congenial company -once in a way was delightful, but I did feel we ought not to have taken -the train to the Nankou Pass. A mule litter, or a Peking cart would have -been so much more suitable. However, it is as well to be as comfortable -as possible. - -From the north came China's foes, the sturdy horsemen from Mongolia, -the mountain men from the Manchurian Hills, and because the peaceful, -industrious inhabitants of the rich; alluvial plains feared greatly the -raiders, they, just at the Nankou Pass, where these inaccessible hills -might be passed, built watch-towers and kept ward. There they stand, -even to this day, upon jutting peaks where the pass opens into the -plain, grey stone watch-towers with look-outs and slits for the archers, -and beacon-towers which could flash the fiery warning that should rouse -the country to the south. For thirteen miles we went up the pass, -the cleft that the stream, babbling cheerfully now in April over its -water-worn rocks, has carved for itself through the stony hills, and its -weird beauty never palls. - -{115}Always there were the hills, broken to pieces, tossed together by the -hand of a giant, there were great clefts in them, vistas looking up -stony and inaccessible valleys, gullies that are black as if a burning -fiery furnace had been set in their midst, little pockets where the -stream widened and there was a patch of green pasture, some goats -grazing, a small, neat farm-house and fruit-trees, pink and white, -almond, peach, or pear, a wealth of blossom. On every patch of those -barren hill-sides where a tree might grow, a tree--a fruit-tree--because -the Chinaman is strictly utilitarian, had been planted; only here and -there, over the sacred graves of China, there was a patch of willow, -tender with the delicate dainty green of early spring. - -[Illustration: 0177] - -Always in China there are people; and here there were tiny towns packed -together on ledges of the eternal hills, with the fruit-trees and the -willows that shade the graves, and there were walls--walls that stretch -up to the inaccessible portion of the hills, where only a goat might -climb, and no invading army could possibly pass. So numerous were these -walls that my cheery young friend suggested that if ever a village -head-man had a little spare time on his hands he remarked: “Oh, I say, -here's a fine day and plenty of stones, let's go out and build a wall.” - And then next day the villagers in the next hamlet looking out said, “By -Jove, Balbus, no Wong, has built a wall. We can't be beat.” But I don't -think in the old days the villagers on those hills ever took life quite -as lightly as that. - -Over and over again it is repeated, the watch-towers on the hills and -the strips of wall running down into the valley, walls with wide tops on -which companies of archers might stand, protected by a breast-work slit -for arrows, with a wall behind again to which they might retire if -they were beaten, making the space between hard to hold, even for a -victorious enemy. Always there were the walls and watch-towers as we -went on up the valley, telling (116)in their own way, the story of the -strenuous lives of the men who lived here in the old days. - -Down the mule track these walls command came an endless company of -people, wandering along, slowly, persistently, as they have -wandered since the dawn of history. They had mules, and donkeys, and -horses--muzzled so that they cannot eat the tufts of herbage by the -roadside--laden with grain, and hides, and all manner of merchandise. -There were blue-coated coolies trudging along with bamboos across their -shoulders, their heavy loads dangling from either end; and there were -laden camels, the ragged dromedaries from Mongolia, long lines of them, -picking their way among the stones along the road by the side of the -stream. The camels, and the walls, and the watch-towers go together, -they enhance the wonder and the charm of this road to the Great Wall. - -Up and up we went, up the valley, past the great archway where is the -Customs barrier even to-day, and on, higher and higher, deeper into -the hills, till ahead, crowning them, climbing their steepest points, -bridging their most inaccessible declivities, clear-cut against the blue -sky, I saw what I had come out to see, one of the wonders of the world, -the Great Wall of China! Here among the stony, arid hills, that anywhere -else in the world would be left to the rock-doves and the rabbits, we -came upon a piece of man's handiwork that for ages has cried aloud to -those who have eyes to see, or ears to hear, of the colossal industry of -China, nay of more than that, of the sacrifice of the individual for -the good of the community. On and on went the Wall, up and up and up, -climbing steadily, falling, climbing again, {117}and again dropping into -the valleys. There were watch-towers and a broad highway along its top; -here stood the sentries, who kept ceaseless watch and ward looking ever -for the invader, whether he came in countless array, a conquering army, -or in small raiding bands that might take toll of the rich crops to the -south, steal a few women, or hold a wealthy squire up to ransom. - -“Watchman, what of the night? What of the night? Is the road clear to -the north? Hist! Hist! What is that beneath the loom of the hills? What -is the sound that comes up on the wind?” - -“There are always dark shadows in the loom of the hills, and it is only -a stone falling down the gully.” - -“Ah, but the dark shadows have hidden a band of Manchurian archers, -and the stone might be loosened by the hoof of a Mongol pony. Watchman! -Watchman, what of the night? What of the night?” - -That was the way I felt about it as, having got out of the train, and -taken a chair, we made our way through the desolate country to the -Nankou Pass, and I, forgetting all else, stood gazing my fill at the -Wall I had heard about ever since I was a little child. Dreaming of what -it must have been in the past, I forgot, for the moment, the present, -and the passing of time. I was alone, as the poet wished to be, and then -a high-pitched voice brought me to this present day again. - -“Say Momma,” said the millionaire--we thought he was a millionaire -because of the observation-car, but he may have been just more -ordinarily well-to-do than a writer of books--“where's Cora?” - {118}“Search me,” said Momma placidly. - -He didn't search her, perhaps because, seeing she was but five feet and -small and thin at that, he did not think it likely that Cora, who was -a buxom young person close on six feet, could possibly be concealed -anywhere about her person. - -The maiden aunt pointed an accusing finger up the rough, grass-grown -stones that make the top of the Wall. - -“Skipping like a young ram,” she snorted, and then all three raised -their voices, and those old-world rocks rang with shouts of “Cora! -Cora!! Cora!!!” - -I trembled for the poet's feelings, if he were anywhere within range, -but after all, in their own way and time, I dare say the keepers of the -Wall were just as commonplace. My companion, who was steadily making his -way up the Wall beside Cora, turned at the ear-piercing yells, looked at -his watch, spoke to the girl, and came slowly back while she quickened -her pace for a moment, as if determined to get over the other side of -the hill, whatever happened. - -“The young gentleman has the most sense,” opined Momma. - -“She'll come now he's turned,” said the maiden aunt acidly, and even -though she did come, down across the rough stones, by the ruined -watch-towers, I felt the insinuation was unjust. - -Those watch-towers are empty now, deserted and desolate. No thoughtful -captain, weighed down with responsibility, looks through their arched -windows, no javelin men stand on the stone steps, no sentry tramps along -peering out to the north. {119}The Wall is tumbling into disrepair, the -grass and weeds grow up between the stones, and the wonder of the world -is a mighty ruin, stately even in its decay, for never again beneath the -sun will such another wall be built. Look at it climbing up those hills, -cutting the blue sky, bridging the gullies, and think of the tears, and -sweat, and blood, that went to the building of it! That foundations may -be well and truly laid, so says tradition, they must be laid on a living -human being. It is one way of saying that on sacrifice our lives are -based, that for every good thing in life something of value must be -given; so to the building of the Wall, that was to hold China safe, went -hundreds and thousands of lives, and its upkeep and its watching cost -more than we can well imagine. - -We went back to the Ching Er Hotel at Nankou, the little hotel close to -the railway and plunged once more into modern life for, unpretentious -and kept by Chinese as it is, it still represented the present day. It -is just one big room, divided into a hall and many little rooms by so -many sheets of paper, so that the man in the room in front may whisper -and nothing be lost upon the man in the room at the back, six rooms -away, while to have a bath is a matter of public interest, for the -smallest splash can be heard from one end of the building to the other. - -Nevertheless, I shall always have friendly feelings towards that little -hotel, where they lodged me so hardly, and fed me so well. - -They considered one in every way, too. The poet had evidently not been -troubled by the family affection of the millionaires, he walked -back from the {120}Wall, and was so full of enthusiasm he forgave my -presence, came to me as I sat at dinner and, covered with the dust of -the way as he was, stood, and just as I should expect of a poet, waxed -eloquent on the glories he had seen. The Chinese waiter, with shaven -head and long blue smock, let him go on for a few minutes, then he took -him gently and respectfully by the sleeve. - -“Vash,” he said solemnly, without the ghost of a smile on his face; -“vash,” and the poet came to earth with a laugh. We both laughed. - -“Well, yes,” he said looking at his dust-begrimed person. “I suppose I -had better wash. I'll be back in a moment. May I sit at your table?” - -And next day I went to see the Ming Tombs. - -St Paul's and Westminster are set in the heart of a mighty city, ever -by the peaceful dead sounds the clamour of the living, yet the living -forget, in spite of the daily reminder they forget. In China, where -graves dot every field, and are part and parcel of the lives of the -people, they bury the honoured dead far apart from the rush and roar of -everyday life, and they never forget. The Nankou Pass is two hours -from Peking, and the tombs of the Ming Emperors are nine miles from the -Nankou Pass, set in the very heart of the hills. The entrance to the -pass is barren and lonely enough, but the extra nine miles is like -journeying into the wilderness where the scapegoat, burdened with the -sins of the community, was driven by the Israelites. It is a long, long -nine miles over a stony mule track where only a donkey, a pony, or a -chair can go, and yet here centuries ago, when it was ten times farther -away, China buried her dead, the men who sat on {121}the Dragon Throne, -and bridged for the nation the gap that lies between mortal men and -high Heaven. It is lonely now when the roadway of the West brings Nankou -close to the capital, it must have been unspeakably lonely in the days -before the opening of the railway. A chair seemed to me the only way to -get there, a chair borne by four blue-clad coolies with queues wrapped -round their shaven heads, and while my companion rode a pony, in a chair -I swung over the stony narrow track away towards the hills. The hills -were rugged and barren, the same hills that the Wall crossed; on their -stony sides no green thing could ever grow, and they were brown, and -pink, and grey, and when a white cloud gathered here and there in the -faraway blue sky, the shadows lay across them in great purple patches. -And the road was stony, barely to be seen, impossible for wheeled -traffic, even the primitive wheeled traffic of Northern China. I doubt -even if a wheelbarrow could have gone along it. I doubted often whether -the heaps of stones on the slope could possibly be a road, but the -coolies seemed to know, and went steadily on, changing the pole from one -shoulder to the other so often that it gave me a feeling of brutality -that I should use such a means of locomotion. The only person who was -comfortable was I. - -My companion rode beside me sometimes. He felt himself responsible for -my well-being, and it was good to be looked after. - -“Are you all right?” - -All right! If the country round was desolate, the sunshine was glorious, -the air, the clear, dry air of Northern China was as invigorating as -champagne, {122}and I knew that I could go on for ever and feel myself -much blessed. The Ming Tombs were but an excuse; it was well and more -than well to be here in the open spaces of the earth, to draw deep -breaths, to feel that neither past nor future mattered; here beneath the -open sky in the golden sunshine swinging along, somewhere, anywhere, I -had all I could ask of life. - -And always it was a stony way. Sometimes the coolies climbed up a bank -of loose stones that slipped and rolled away as they passed, sure-footed -as goats, sometimes the stones were piled on either side and a sort of -track meandered in between, sometimes they were scattered all over the -plain in such masses that even the industrious Chinese seemed to have -given up the task of clearing them away as hopeless, and had simply -tilled the land in between. For this was no uninhabited desert, desolate -as it seemed. Always we came across little stone-built hamlets, there -were men and women working in the fields, and rosy-cheeked children -stood by the wayside and waved their little hands to the passing -stranger. There would be the sound of bells, and a string of mules or -donkeys came picking their way as soberly as the coolies themselves, -and left much to themselves by their ragged drivers. They looked of the -poorest, these people, men and women clad much alike in dirty blue that, -torn here and there, let out the cotton-wool which padded it for winter -warmth. - -Probably they knew nothing, nothing of the world beyond their little -dusty, stony hamlets, they prayed perhaps for the rain that should -moisten their dusty, stony fields, and give them the mess of meal, the -{123}handful of persimmons that is all they ask of Fate, and they -watched the few strangers who came to visit the tombs, and perhaps never -even wondered what the outside world might be like, if it gave to those -who lived there anything more than fell to the lot of the humble -dwellers on the road to the Ming Tombs. - -[Illustration: 0189] - -And at last in the pleasant noontide we came to the p'ia lou at the -entrance, the greatest p'ia lou in China, that land of p'ia lous, and -standing there I realised, not only the beauty of the archway, but the -wonder of the place the Mings had chosen to be theirs for all time. -It is a great amphitheatre among these barren hills. St Paul's or -Westminster could not hold these tombs, for Hyde Park might be put in -this valley and yet not half fill it; and round it, set against the -base of the hills, in great courts enclosed in pinkish-red walls, the -counterpart of those round the Forbidden City, and planted with cypress -and pine, are the various tombs. A magnificent resting-place, truly! And -the dignity is enhanced by the desolate approach. Through the p'ia lou -is the famous Holy Way, the avenue of marble animals, of which all -the world has so often heard. What mystic significance had the marble -elephant and the camel, the kneeling horse and the sedate scholar? -Possibly they had no more than the general suggestion that all things -did honour to the mighty dead laid away in their tombs. A paved way runs -between them, paved with great blocks of marble brought from the -hills, placed there in Bygone ages by the hands of slaves, sweating and -struggling under their loads, or possibly by men just exactly like the -men who were bearing me, men slaves in all but name, who each day must -earn a {124}few pence or go under in the pitiful struggle for life. The -paved way that runs on for three miles is worn and broken, the grass -comes up between the blocks, the bridges are falling into disrepair, but -these things are trifles in the face of the amphitheatre set among the -eternal hills, the blue sky and the sunshine, these are a memorial here, -a memorial that makes the work of men's hands but a small thing. - -Nevertheless that work is very wonderful. No one, I suppose, except -he were making Chinese art or antiquities a special study, would visit -every tomb in turn. It would take a week, and we, like the majority of -visitors, contented ourselves with that of Yung Lo, the principal one. -And here is a curious thing worth noting, a thing that possibly would -happen nowhere else in the world, showing how irrevocably China feels -herself bound to the past. The Ming Emperor was a Chinese, and the -Republic that has just overthrown the Manchu Dynasty, is also Chinese, -so as a mark of respect, they have repaired, after a fashion, this, the -tomb of the greatest of the Ming Emperors. That is to say--oh China! -they have whitewashed the marble, painted the golden-brown tiled roof of -the temple, and swept and garnished the great audience hall. - -A tomb in China reminds me in no way of death. We entered through a -door studded with heavy brazen knobs a grass-grown courtyard, where were -trees, pine and cypress. We went along a paved way, and before us was -a building with a curved roof, with the tiles broken here and there; it -was set on a platform reached by flights of marble steps, or rather the -flights of steps were on either side, while in the centre was a ramp -on which was beautifully {125}carved in relief the dragon, the sign of -Empire, and the horse, which I have heard some people say is the sign -of good-fortune. On the platform, through all the cracks in the marble, -violets were forcing their way, making a purple carpet under the golden -sunshine. We crossed to a hall, which is surely most wonderful. The -light was subdued a little, and the hall that contains in its centre the -memorial tablet of red and gold is as magnificent in its proportions -as York Minster. The roof is supported by trunks of sandal-wood trees, -smooth, straight, and brown, they run sixty feet up to the roof, and -after more than five hundred years the air is heavy with the sensuous -scent of them. Where did they get that sandal-wood, those trunks all of -such noble proportions? They must have cost an immense sum of money, for -they never grew in Northern China. - -Another courtyard is behind this hall of audience, where is a marble -fountain, whitewashed, and a spring that is supposed to cure all ills of -the eyes, and a door apparently leading into a hill-side, behind which -is a grove of cypress trees. The door being opened, we entered a paved -tunnel which led upwards to a chamber in the heart of the hill, whence -two more ramps led still upwards, one to the right and the other to the -left, into the open air again. Here the coffin was placed in the mound -through the top of the ramp. The stones with which the ramps were paved -were worn and slippery, the angle was steep, the leaves from the trees -outside had drifted in, and the effect was strange and weird. Nowhere -else but in China could such a thing be. And right on top of the mound, -over the {126}actual grave, is another memorial tablet to the dead -Emperor, looking away out over the valley to the stony hills, that are -the wall which hedges off this sacred place from the outside world. - -And Yung Lo, the Emperor, died in the first half of the fifteenth -century. How many people in England know or care, where Henry V. lies -buried? - -The evening was falling when we went back by the stony mule path, by the -little stony villages, where the mothers were calling their children in -from the fields, and the men were gathering at the meeting-places for -the evening gossip. Of what did they talk? Of the Emperor dead in his -tomb hundreds of years ago? Of the New Republic away in the capital? The -Emperor seemed somehow nearer to the village people. There was the sound -of quaint, tuneless, Eastern music, and sitting with the sun on his -sightless face, surrounded by a listening little crowd, was a blind -musician holding across his knees a sort of lute. The people turned -and watched as the strangers and the aliens passed, and the musician -thrummed on. Light or dark was the same to him. The clouds piled now -in the western sky, and the stony land looked unutterably dreary in -the gathering gloom, the coolies must have been weary, but they went -steadily on, changing the chair pole from one shoulder to the other. The -slopes that had been hard to scramble up were harder to scramble down, -but they made no complaint. This was their work, and the night was -coming when they might rest. The night was coming fast, but we were -nearing the end of our journey. The hills looked cold, and gloomy, -and threatening, and then the heavy clouds above them {127}broke, and -through them burst the setting sun in all the glory of silver, and -purple, and ruddy gold. Down on the barren hills, like a benediction, -fell his last rays, telling of hope for the morrow, and we turned into -the yard of the little inn, and the coolies bowed themselves to the -ground, one after the other, because they got a pitiful little over and -above their hard-earned wages. - -[Illustration: 0196] - -And the next day we went back to Peking, back through the pass. - -The Ching Er Hotel provided tiffin on the train, curried chicken and -mutton chops, some form of cakey pudding, cheese, and bread and butter, -all excellent in its way--and we were all so amiable, even the poet had -come down from the clouds and joined us, that we only laughed when we -found we were expected to pile all these good things on one plate, and -do it quickly before the train left! - -As we were eating it, the guard came round and collected one dollar and -ninety cents extra apiece, because we had ridden on the observation-car. -We paid, and said hard things about the millionaire, but a little more -knowledge of ways Chinese has convinced me we accused him unjustly. I -feel sure that enterprising and observant guard took stock of us, saw -that we did not know the American, and collected, for the benefit of a -highly intelligent, and truly deserving Chinese railway official. - -We seldom think of the Chinaman with the glamour of romance, but this -Nankou Pass is well-calculated to upset all our former ideas, and give -us a setting for China such as might apply to barbaric Italy or Provence -of the Middle Ages, only--and it is well to remember, what we barbarians -of the West {128}are apt to forget--that in China, things have always -moved in mightier orbits, that where there were ten men in the Western -world, you may count a hundred in China, for a hundred a thousand, for a -thousand ten thousand. - -What must the Nankou Pass have been like on some bitter night in winter, -when the stars were like points of steel, and the stream was frozen in -a grip of iron, and the still air was keen, and hard, and cold, with the -bitter, biting sting of the northern winter? When the fires blazed in -the beacons on the hillsides, flinging their ruddy light, their message -of fear and warning. The keepers of the Wall were failing, the Mongol -hordes were pouring over the barrier, and it behoved every man who saw -that ruddy glare to arm and come to the keeping of the Pass, to die in -its guarding. They died and they held it, and they died and the invaders -flung their bodies to the wolves and the crows, and swept on and took -the country beyond for their own. - -But the country to the south is China, China of the ages and she absorbs -nations, Mongol or Manchu, or men from her western borders, and makes -them one with herself. - -This is the message I read in the Nankou Pass. I have changed my mind -again and again, and generally I do not believe what I read that day. -But it was firmly impressed on me then. China is not dead. The spirit -that conceived and built that mighty Wall is a living thing still. All -down the Pass, alongside the age-old mule track, runs a new road, a road -of the West, a railway, planned, and laid, and built entirely by Chinese -without any Western help except such as the sons of China got {129}for -themselves in the schools of America and England. And it is not only -well and truly laid, as well as, and better than, many a Western -railway, but behold the spirit of China has entered in, the spirit, not -of her poor, struggling for a crust of bread, a mess of meal, but the -spirit of the men who conceived and planned the Wall, the beautiful Lama -Temple, or the spacious courtyards and glorious palaces of the Forbidden -City. They have built embankments and curves, tunnels and archways that -are things of beauty, and glorious to look upon, as surely never was -railway before. They have built, and it is saying a great deal, -a railway that is worthy of the Nankou Pass. They are the lineal -descendants of the men, who, two thousand years ago, built the Great -Wall. Hail and all hail! - -And then a railway man talked to me. The railway might be beautiful, -but it was costly beyond all excuse. The best of the ideas had come from -Europe, certainly these highly civilised, these over-civilised people -might be trusted to see and make a beautiful thing, the question -was, could they be trusted to manage a railway as a railway should be -managed? He thought not. They had somehow lost force. Well, we shall -see. One thing seems certain, between us Westerners and the Chinese, -is a great gulf fixed. We look across and sometimes we wonder, and -sometimes we pity, and sometimes we admire, but we cannot understand. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII--TWO CHARITIES - -{130} - -_The manufacturing of the blind--“Before born”--The Rev. Hill -Murray--“The Message”--Geography--Marriage--A brave little -explorer--Massacre of the blind--Deposits of one tael--A missionary -career--The charitable Chinese--A Buddhist orphanage--Invitation to a -funeral--An intellectual abbot--The youngest orphan--Pity and mercy._ - -|The blind musician I had seen playing to the village folk with the -setting sun, that he could not see, on his face, remained in my mind. -Why especially, I do not know, for it is a common enough sight in China. -Terrible as is the affliction, the Chinese, by their insanitary habits, -more or less manufacture their blind. The cult of the bath is not theirs -yet, they live, apparently happily, amongst filthy surroundings, they -neglect the eyes of the new-born child, they suffer from smallpox, and -ophthalmia, and the barber with his infected razor shaves, not only -close round the outside, but with the laudable intention of making all -clean and neat, as far down as he can get round the delicate inside of -the eyelid. The result one may see any day in the streets of Peking, or -any Chinese town. A beggar in China is always a horrible-looking object. -He belongs to a guild. His intention is to attract pity, and it would -seem to him going the wrong way about it, to begin by being neat and -clean. Besides, though many people {131}in China are neat, I suspect -very few of them are what we arrogant Westerners would describe -as clean, and among a dirty people, the blind beggar stands out, -pre-eminent, as the filthiest creature I have ever seen. On the -roadside, again and again in a country place where many people are -passing, I have seen a half-naked man, who looked as if he had never -since his birth even looked at water, clad, or rather half-clad, in -filthy rags with raw red sores where his eyes should have been. He was -so horrible, so ghastly a specimen of humanity that he seemed almost -beyond pity. And yet a blind person always receives a certain amount -of respect and consideration from the Chinese, even from the poorest -Chinese. Never in his hearing would the roughest rickshaw coolie call -him “Hsia Tze” that is “Blind man.” That would be discourteous. Though -he be only a beggar, forlorn, hungry, unkempt, he is still addressed by -all passers as “Hsien Sheng,” “Before Born,” a title of respect that is -given to teachers, doctors, and men of superior rank and age. - -Hard though, in spite of the respect that is paid them, must be the lot -of those who are handicapped by the loss of sight. It is hard in any -land, but in China, where even among those in full possession of their -senses, there are hundreds of thousands just on the verge of starvation, -the touch needed to send a man over the brink is very, very slight -indeed. Not even the close family ties of the Chinese can help them -much, for where the strongest suffer, the weak must go to the wall. -And there are very few crafts open to the blind man. He may be a -storyteller, or a fortune-teller, or a musician, I cannot {132}imagine -what he would do if his talents did not run in those lines, and even -then he is dependent upon the doles of a people who have very, very -little to give away, and naturally guard that little carefully. Once -blind there is nothing more to be done. The beautiful blue sky of China, -the golden sunshine have gone, and in its place there is the darkness, -warm sometimes, bitter cold sometimes, the enveloping darkness that -means for so many helplessness and starvation, often at the very best -semi-starvation, borne with the uncomplaining stoicism of the Chinese. - -Now once upon a time a man stood upon the Beggars' Bridge in Peking, -outside the walls of the Tartar City, selling Bibles, and noticed as -everyone must do, the number of blind who passed by. Was there none to -pity, asked the Rev. Hill Murray, none among all those who had devoted -their lives to bringing the Gospel to the heathen to help? - -“What?” said some. “When you know that already the Chinese declare we -missionaries take the children for the sake of making medicine of their -eyes, will you give colour to the accusation by setting up a mission to -the blind?” And then, when he still persisted, “They need us, they need -us,” they said: “Since you are so keen, why don't you do it yourself?” - -To him it was “The Message.” Why should he not do it himself? And there -and then he set to work. It was years ago. What the cost, what the -struggle, I do not know. I only know that one sunny April day wandering -round Peking in a hu t'ung in the east of the Tartar City I came upon -the house, or rather, for it is all done Chinese fashion, {133}the nest -of little houses with their courtyards and little gardens, that is the -Mission to the Blind. - -[Illustration: 0204] - -The Rev. Hill Murray is gone to his rest, but his wife and daughters -keep up the Mission, waiting for the time when his young son, away in -England training, shall be ready to take his place. Fifty pupils, boys -and girls, the missionaries send in from the various stations, and -here they are taught, taught to read and write according to the Braille -system, taught to play musical instruments, and prepared for being -preachers, which of course the missionaries consider the most important -avocation of all. I, in my turn, am only concerned that the unfortunate -should be happy, or as happy as he can be under the circumstances, and -I should think that the preacher, the man who feels himself of some -importance in spite of his affliction, competent to instruct his fellows -in what, to him, is a matter of deep moment, has possibly the best -chance of happiness. The girls are taught much the same as the boys, and -in addition to knit, and such household work as they are capable of. - -It seemed to me sad, when I went there one bright sunny morning, that -these young things should be for ever in the dark, but I am bound to say -it was only my thoughts that were sad. The girls came laughing into the -front courtyard with their knitting in their hands to see--see, save -the mark!--the stranger, and have their photographs taken. The sun, the -golden sun of April, streamed down on the stone-paved courtyard, all the -plants in pots were in bloom, and the girls, dressed in Chinese fashion, -made deep obeisance in the direction they were told I was. All around -were the quaint roofs, dainty {134}lattice-work windows, and Eastern -surroundings of a Chinese house, and the girls were grave at first, -because they were being introduced to an older woman, and one whom they -thought was their superior, therefore they thought it was not fitting -they should laugh and talk, but when I remarked on their gravity, Miss -Murray, shepherding them, laughed. - -“Oh they are very happy. They don't feel their lot, not yet at any rate. -They are proud because they have learned so much. They can read and -write, they can knit, and they have learned geography.” - -Geography seemed a great asset, and presently, they, when they knew they -might, were laughing and talking, and saying how proud they were to have -their photographs taken. They sat there knitting, and even while they -talked, did exactly what they were told, for like all Chinese, they -have a great sense of the fitting. On one occasion a friend brought in a -gramophone and set it going for their amusement. - -“I could have shaken them all,” said Miss Murray, “they received the -funniest sallies in solemn silence,” and when the entertainer was gone, -she reproached them, “You never even smiled.” - -A dozen eager voices responded. “Oh but it was so hard not to laugh. -We wanted to so much, but we thought it would not be right. It was so -hard.” - -The lot of all women in China is hard; doubly hard, it seemed to me, -must the lot of these poor little girls be, cut off from the only hope -of happiness a Chinese woman has, the chance of bearing a son. {135}“And -they can never marry,” I said sorrowfully to Miss Murray. - -There came a smile into her bright young eyes. “Oh, I don't know. Some -of them may. They are so very well-educated, and the Chinese admire -education, and in a Chinese household, where there are so many people to -do the work, a blind wife would not be so useless. Only the other day we -heard of the marriage of one of our girls.” - -And I looked at them again with other eyes, and hoped there were many -households that would like a wife for their son who knew geography. - -We went from the outer to the inner courtyard, a rock garden where, in -true Chinese fashion, are set out plants and rockeries, a little winding -river with a stone bridge across it, a miniature lake--there is no water -in it now--and many creeping plants hiding the stones. It is a charming -spot, but naturally the blind are not allowed to go there by themselves. -It is too dangerous. However, on one occasion, one curious little boy -objected to these restrictions, and went on an exploring expedition on -his own account. Groping about in the darkness, he fell into the river, -which has steep cement sides, and out of that he could not get. You -would think that he would have yelled lustily to call attention to his -predicament, but that is not the Chinese way. He had disobeyed, Fate -was against him, and he must suffer, and there he lay the livelong day -without a murmur, and not till they called the roll in the evening, -was his absence discovered, and a search for him instituted. Even that -lesson was not sufficient, for once again he was missing, and once again -he was discovered fallen into one of the many traps of the rock garden. -{136}It was unexplored country to him, and he was willing to risk much -to see what it was like. - -In the parts of the house with which they are familiar they can all run -about, up and down steps, and in and out of courtyards and down passages -as easily as people with sight. The boys came out of their class-rooms -where they learn to read, and write, and sing, and play the harmonium, -and raced about much as other boys in other lands would do. - -They have two meals a day--one in the morning and one at four o'clock in -the afternoon, and as much tea and bread at other times as they care -to have. Mrs Murray apologised for the dampness of the stones of the -dining-room floor. It is a Chinese house, and stone floors are not a -sign of poverty. These stones are damp because at twelve o'clock the -boys come and pour themselves out cups of tea, and naturally they make a -mess. The cook is busy, he cannot be with them always. For this charity -is run on very simple lines, and the people who see are very few. There -is the cook and the house-coolie, a woman for the girls, a doorkeeper, -frail and old, he may be seen standing just outside the door in the -picture of the hu t'ung, and a couple of men who attend to the making of -the Braille books, for their making and binding requires the attention -of someone with sight. But with these exceptions, the blind have it all -to themselves; they learn, and they play, and they eat by themselves. - -In one of the pictures I have taken, the boys have come out of school -and are playing cat and mouse. All join hands in a circle, and one boy -creeping in and out softly is chased by another. How they manage it in -their darkness I don't know, but they {137}chattered, and laughed, and -shouted happily though what they said of course I did not know. They are -all, boys and girls alike, dressed in the ordinary blue cotton of the -country; the boys had their hair cut short, for nowadays the queue, -that most curious of fashions in the dressing of hair, is going out. The -girls were also dressed like the peasants, with their trousers neatly -drawn in at the ankles and their smooth, straight hair drawn back and -plaited in a tail down the back, much like an English schoolgirl; the -little ones though, have their heads shaven in front, very ugly, but in -conformation with Chinese custom, which always shaves part at least of -the little one's head. - -In the courtyard where the boys were playing, was a rocking-horse, a -dilapidated and battered toy without either tail, or mane, or eyes. And -this toy is pathetic, when you know its history. It was bought with -the pennies saved by Mr Hill Murray's children. They, too, out of -their small store, wanted to do something for the blind; and the blind -children, immediately it came into their possession, took out its eyes. -They were not going to have the rocking-horse spying on them when they -could not see themselves. - -They all wisely live in native fashion. Their food is the food of the -well-to-do lower classes, plenty of bread, steamed instead of being -baked, and plenty of vegetables and soup, with just a little meat in it; -the food to which they have been accustomed, and which they like best. -Their beds, I have tried to depict one, are just the ordinary k'ang, a -stone platform to hold three in summer, and five in winter. Under it is -a small fireplace where a fire can be built {138}to warm it, above, it -is covered with matting, and each boy spreads his own bed of quilted -cotton, which is rolled up in the daytime. - -I would have thought that the Mission to the Blind was so good and great -a thing that it could rouse no bitter feelings in any breast. It has -for its object the succouring of those whom the Chinese themselves treat -with great respect, yet so fanatical was the Boxer outbreak, that in the -hu t'ung outside the Mission, forty of the pupils and their teachers, -helpless in their affliction, were done to death by those who would have -none of the Westerner and his works, even though those works were works -of mercy. - -More often, perhaps, in China than anywhere in the world where I have -been, am I reminded of the passage in Holy Writ that tells how as -the Man of Pity came nigh unto Jericho a certain blind man sat by the -wayside begging. And, hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it -meant, and they told him, “Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.” We may not -give sight to the blind nowadays, but if we walk in the streets of -Peking, and then turn in to the Mission to the Blind with its kindly -care for the helpless, and its brightening of darkened lives, we know -that that man who stood on the Beggars' Bridge pitied, as his Master had -pitied before him. All that he could do he has done, and those who have -come after him have followed faithfully in his footsteps, can any man do -more? I think not. Truly I think not. - -“What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?” asked the Lord of the World -of the blind beggar. - -And he said, “Lord that I may receive my sight.” - -Those who charge themselves with the care of the {139}blind may not -give so royally now. Theirs is the harder part, they tend and care with -unfailing patience, untiring diligence, and then they stand, and wait. - -[Illustration: 0212] - -I was so lost in my admiration for the Mission to the Blind, that I -began to think and to say, that missionary enterprise, which I had -always thought should turn its attention to its own people, was at least -justified in this land of China, where no provision was made for the -sick and afflicted, and where charity was unknown. I said it very often, -and every foreigner approved, until at last, there came one or two who -promptly showed me the utter folly of drawing deductions when I didn't -know anything about the facts. - -The foreigner in China is divided into two camps. He is either -missionary or he is anti-missionary. Both sides are keen on the matter. -And, of course, there are always two sides to every question, as the -little girl saw whose sympathies went out to the poor lion, who hadn't -got a Christian. - -China needs medical missionaries, needs them as badly as the city slums -of London or New York; and China is going to get them, for there are -thousands of people who think a deal more of the state of the soul of -the materialistic Chinaman than they do of the starving bodies, and -more than starved intellects of the slum children of a Christian land. -Formerly the missionary had a worse time than he has now. He came among -a people who despised him, and more than once he suffered martyrdom, and -even when there was no question of martyrdom, some of the regulations -he submitted to must have been unpleasant. Unwisely I think, for you can -{140}never make a European look like a Chinaman, the powers that ran -the missionary societies, decided that the missionary must wear Chinese -dress, even to the shaven head and the queue behind. A hatchet-faced -Scot with a fiery red pigtail, they say was an awesome sight, certainly -calculated to impress the Celestial, though whether in the way the -newcomer intended I should not like to say. The growing of a proper -queue was, of course, a question of months, and the majority of -missionaries began their career with a false one. A story is told of one -luckless young man in Shanghai who lost his, and went about his business -for some little time unaware of the fact. When he did discover his loss -he went back on his tracks, searching for it at all the places he had -visited. At last he arrived at the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, and -there, pinned high on the wall, was his missing property, and attached -to it by some facetious clerk was the legend in great letters that all -might read: “Deposits of one tael not accepted here!” For the benefit of -the uninitiated, one tael is a sum of money, varying with the price of -silver, from half-a-crown to three shillings. - -But those days are gone by. Nowadays missionary societies are wiser, and -the medical missionaries are pleasant, cheerful, hard-working men and -women doing an immense amount of good among the suffering poor, so -kindly, so thoughtful are they that I grudge their services to the -heathen when I think how many of the children, aye and those who are not -children, in the mean streets of the great cities of the West need their -services. They trouble themselves about the souls of the people too, -and the example of kindly lives must be good. Again I grudge it all to -{141}the Oriental, though I have come to realise that there are many -ways of doing good in the world. I do occasionally feel that the -missionaries are a little too strenuous in inculcating prayer and -praise, and exhorting to a virtue that is a little beyond the average -mortal. The caring for both bodies and souls can certainly be overdone. -However I dare say it all works right in the end, and I, who do nothing, -should be the last to judge. Still sometimes I could not but remember -the picture of the two babies discussing the situation, the fat, plump -baby, and the thin, miserable, scrawny one. - -Said the thin baby: “How do you manage to keep so fat? My milk's -sterilised, and the milkman's sterilised, and even the cart's -sterilised, and yet look at me,” and he stretched out his thin, starved -hands. - -“Ah, so's mine,” said the fat baby serenely, “but, when no one's -looking, I climb down and get a chew at the corner of the floor-rug, and -get enough bacteria to keep a decent life in me!” - -Listening to the talk of the missionaries, hearing of the foolishness -of smoking, the wickedness of alcoholic drinks, and various forms of -sinfulness, I have rather hoped, and more than suspected, that the -converts sometimes got down and had a chew at the corner of the -floor-rug when no one was looking. - -Not that many of the missionaries don't endeavour to live up to -their own moral code, many of them do, and many of them lead lives of -abnegation and self-denial. We all know that the missionary of the Church -of Rome gives up everything, and expects never again to see his -country once he enters the mission-field, and many of the China Inland -Missionaries, {142}except in the matter of celibacy, run them close. -Their pay is very, very small, no holidays can be counted upon, and -their lives are isolated and lonely. Even the American missionary, who -is far better paid, gives up his own individuality. The ministers earn -more, I believe, than they would in their own country, because people -give gladly to missions, while at home the minister's salary is often a -burning question. “Far fields are ever fair,” but a clever surgeon who -is kept hard at it from dawn to dark, once the Chinese appreciate him, -certainly receives far less than he could earn working for himself. He -is given a comfortable home, he may marry and have children without a -qualm, for, for every child twenty pounds a year is allowed till he is -of age; the societies see to it that a six weeks' holiday is given every -year, and a year's furlough every seven years with passage paid home -for wife and children. No business firm could afford to make more -comfortable provision for its employees. - -In China, service is cheap and good, the food and the cooks both -excellent, and the climate, at least in the north, exhilarating and -delightful. But the missionaries do their duty, and do it well, and they -are pioneers of Western civilisation. In their wake comes trade, though -that is the last thing the majority of them think about. The only -trouble for the American missionary seems to me the danger that hangs -over every dweller in China--a danger they share with every other -foreign resident. It is hard to think of danger when one looks at the -courteous, subservient Chinese, but Sir Robert Hart put it succinctly: -“Anything may happen at any time in China.” And for all the New -Republic, {143}and for all the fair promise, his words are still worthy -of attention. - -“Do you really think,” said R. F. Johnston, the well-known writer on -things Chinese, “that the Chinese knew nothing about charity till it was -preached to them by Christian missionaries?” - -I intimated that such had been my faith. - -“The Chinese,” said he, a little indignantly, “are one of the most -charitable peoples on earth.” - -And then he told me what I, a stranger and ignorant of the language, -might have gone years without learning. To begin with, family ties -are far stronger in China than in European countries, and a man feels -himself bound to help his helpless relatives in a way that would seem -absurd to the average Christian, and in addition there are numerous -societies for helping those, who, by some mischance, have no one upon -whom they can depend. There are societies for succouring the sick, -societies for looking after orphans, and other kindly institutions. -There are even societies for paying poor folks' fares across ferries! -There certainly are a good many rivers in China, but this society I must -admit strikes me as a work of supererogation. I don't think much merit -can really attach to the subscribers, for the majority of poor folks I -have seen would be so much better for walking through the river, clothes -and all. - -However, we have a good few foolish charities of our own, and even if -the Chinese charities do not cover all the ground, we must remember that -China is, in so many things, archaic; and these charities run on archaic -lines are naturally shocking to men steeped in the sanitary lore of -the West, {144}We have only to read the novels of Charles Dickens and -Charlotte Brontë to see a few flaws in the way the charities of the -Early Victorian era were administered; what would we think if we could -take a peep into thetlazar-house of the Middle Ages--yet there were kind -hearts, I doubt not, in the Middle Ages--and China, with her overflowing -population, is yet in the matter of charity where we were some time -about the reign of the seventh Henry. Could we expect much? - -“Would you like to see a Buddhist Orphanage?” asked Mr Johnston. - -I said I would, and he promised to take me to one they were trying to -run on Western lines. - -It was a pleasantly warm Sunday, with a wind blowing that lifted the -filthy dust of Peking from the roadways, and flung it in our faces. -We interviewed first two rickshaw coolies with a view to ascertaining -whether they; knew where we wanted to go, or rather he interviewed them, -for I have no Chinese. They swore they did, by all their gods. Still he -looked doubtful. - -“Why don't you take them?” said I, feeling mistakenly that nowhere else -in the town could the dust and the wind be quite so bad as just outside -the Wagons Lits Hotel. - -“Because I want to find out if they really know where we want to go. -They always swear they do, for fear of losing the job.” - -However, at last we set out with rickshaw coolies who seemed to have a -working knowledge of the route we wished to follow, and we went through -the Chien Men into the Chinese City, and away to the west through a -maze of narrow alley-ways, hung {145}with long Chinese signs, past the -closely packed, one-storied shops where they sold china and earthenware, -cotton goods and food-stuffs, lanterns, and rows of uninteresting -Chinese shoes. The streets of course were thronged. There were -rickshaws, laden donkeys, broughams with Venetian shutters to shut out -the glare, the clanging bell and outrider to tell that some important -man was passing, mules, camels, men on foot with or without burdens, -with bamboos across their shoulders and loads slung from them, and some -few women tottering along on maimed feet. And every man was giving his -opinion on things in general to the universe at the top of his voice. - -“How I wish I could understand what they were saying,” I said to my -companion once, when the exigencies of the way brought our rickshaws -side by side. - -He laughed. “Sometimes it's as well you shouldn't.” And then he -corrected himself lest I should have got a wrong impression. “No, on the -whole they are very polite to each other.” - -Once we came upon a man with a packet of papers in his hand. He was -standing upon something to raise him a little above the passing crowd, -and distributing the papers not to everyone, but apparently with great -discrimination. Both of us were deemed worthy of a sheet, and I wondered -what on earth the hieroglyphics could mean. It was an invitation to -a funeral, my cicerone informed me, the next time we were in speaking -distance. Some woman, who had been working for a broader education for -women, had died, and her friends were going to mark their appreciation -of her labours by {146}a suitable funeral. So is the change coming to -China. - -As we went on the houses grew fewer, there were open spaces where -kaoliang and millet were being reaped, for this, my second charity, I -visited in September, the grey walls of the city rose up before us, -and still there was no sign of the monastery. Our men were panting, the -sweat was running down their faces and staining their thin coats, still -they dragged us on, never dreaming; of using the tongues Nature had -given them to lighten their labours. To ask the way would have been to -show the foreigner in the rickshaw that they had not known it in the -first instance, and that would be to lose face. - -But one of the foreigners had grasped that already, and he insisted on -the necessary inquiries being made, and presently we had gone back on -our tracks and were at the monastery, being received by the abbot who -had charge of it, and a tall Chinese, who spoke German, and was deeply -interested in the Orphanage. - -It was the great day of the year, for they were having their annual -sports. Over the entrance gateway was a magnificent decoration to mark -the event. The place was built Chinese fashion, with many courtyards -and low-roofed houses round them, and we were led from one courtyard -to another until at last we arrived at a large courtyard, or rather -playground. Here were the monks and their charges, and a certain number -of spectators who had been invited to see the show, all men, for men and -women do not mingle in China, and the next day the entertainment -would be repeated with women only as spectators. I received a warm -{147}invitation to come again, but I felt that once would be enough. We -sat down on a bench with a table in front of us, a boy was told off to -keep us supplied with tea, and I had leisure to look around me and see -what manner of people were these among whom I had come. - -[Illustration: 0222] - -[Illustration: 0223] - -There are thirty monks here, and they have charge of two hundred and -fifty orphans whom they teach to read and write, and all the useful -trades, give them, in fact, a good start in the world, and the best of -chances to earn their own living. The bright sunshine was everywhere, -the walls in a measure shut out the wind and the dust, and the -sports were in full swing. At the upper end of the ground, in a room -overlooking the play, sat the abbot and some of his subordinates. They -wore loose gowns of some dark material girt in at the waist, their only -ornament, if ornament it could be called, was a rosary, and head -and face were absolutely bare of hair. The abbot from a neighbouring -monastery was introduced to me too, a man with a pleasant, thoughtful, -cultured face and the most beautiful milk-white teeth. I was sorry I -could not speak to that man. I felt somehow as if we might have met on a -plane where nationalities and race count for little; but that would have -been due to his culture and broadmindedness, not to mine. - -Then there were the orphans. They were fat, well-fed looking little -chaps dressed in unbleached calico trousers, and coats of the very -brightest blue I have ever seen. Each wore on his breast, as a mark of -the festive occasion, a bright pink carnation, and every head was -shaven as bare as a billiard ball. They looked happy and well, but to -my Western {148}eyes that last sanitary precaution, as I suppose it was, -spoiled any claim they had to good looks. They ran races, they jumped -about in sacks, they picked up hoops, they stood in clusters of six and -sang in shrill young voices, weird and haunting songs that I was told -were patriotic and full of hope for China. The three first in the races -had their names proclaimed in black characters on white flags that were -carried round the grounds, and there and then received their prizes, a -handkerchief or some such trifle. - -It was interesting not so much for the sports themselves, those may be -better seen in any well-regulated boys' school, but because this is the -first time such efforts have been made in China, and made by the Chinese -themselves. That a man should take any violent exercise, unless he were -absolutely obliged, that he should have any ideal beyond looking fat, -and sleek, and well-fed, is entirely contrary to all received Chinese -ideas, and must mark a great step in their advancement. - -And then they brought me the youngest orphan, a wee, fat boy of eight, -and though he looked well, he seemed much younger. Probably he was. As -I understand it, the Chinese counts himself a year old in the year he -is born, and the first New Year's day adds another year to his life, so -that the child born on the last day of the old year, would on New Year's -Day, be two years old! There is something very lovable about a small -child, and there was about this little smiling chap, though he was -unbecomingly dressed in coat and trousers of unbleached calico, and his -head was shaven bare. He held out his hand to me when he was told, bowed -low when {149}I gave him a little piece, a very little piece, of money, -and then trotted across the grounds to where a young monk was looking on -at the show. He caught hold of the monk's robe, and nestled against him, -and the man put down a tender hand and caressed him. No child of his -own, by his vows, would he ever have, but he was a tender father to this -little lonely waif. A waif? He was well-fed, he was suitably clad, and -here I saw with my own eyes he had tenderness, could any child have had -more? Could men do more? And again I say, as I said when I looked at the -Mission to the Blind, I think not. Very surely I think not. At least -one of these monks was giving what no Westerner could possibly give to -a child of an alien race, that tenderness that softens and smooths life. -“They brought young children to Him, that He should touch them... and He -took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, and blessed them.” - -These monks profess a faith that was old when Christianity was born, but -they are carrying out as faithfully as ever did any follower of Christ -His behests. What matter the creed? What matter by what name we call it? -Away in this old Eastern city here, they are preaching, in deeds, the -gospel of love and kindness, and no man can do more. - -We are apt to think that charity and pity are attributes of the -Christian faith only but that is to insult the many good and holy men of -other faiths. I am not scorning the kindness and self-sacrifice of -the Christian missionary, but it is better, where it is possible, that -charity and pity for the Chinese should come from those of their own -race. For, however tender and kind an alien may be, he still {150}stands -outside, and the recipient to a certain extent is necessarily alone. -Therefore am I doubly grateful to Mr Johnston for taking me to this -Orphanage, where I could see how good the Chinese could be to the waifs -and strays of their own people. - -Pity and mercy belong not to the Western nations alone. They come from -the Most High, and are common to all His people, Christian missionary -selling Bibles, and pitying the blind upon the Beggars' Bridge, or -Buddhist monk taking to his heart the little forsaken child in the -monastery of an older faith in the Chinese City. For such love as that -we find in the world we, who look on, can only bow our heads and give -thanks. - - - - -CHAPTER IX--A CHINESE INN - -{151} - -_The start for Jehol--Tuan--A Peking cart--Chinese roads--A great -highway--Chances of camping out--“Room for ten thousand merchant -guests”--Human occupancy--Dust of ages--Eyes at the window--Catering for -the journey--The Chinese chicken, minced._ - -|There were two places that I particularly wanted to go to when I could -make up my mind to tear myself away from the charms of Peking. One -was the Tungling, or Eastern Tombs, the tombs where the great -Empress-Dowager and most of the Manchu Emperors were buried, and Jehol, -the Hunting Palace of the Manchus, away to the north in Inner Mongolia, -or on the outermost edge of the Province of Chihli, for boundaries are -vague things in that out-of-the-way part of the world. I wondered if -I could combine them both if instead of coming back to Peking after -visiting the tombs I might make my way over the mountains to Jehol. With -that end in view I instituted inquiries, only to find that while many -people knew a man, or had heard of several men who had been, I never -struck the knowledgeable man himself. The only thing was to start out on -my own account, and I knew then I should soon arrive at the difficulties -to be overcome, not the least of them was two hundred {152}and eighty -miles in a Peking cart. The only drawback to that arrangement was that -if I didn't like the difficulties when I did meet them, there could be -no drawing back. They would have to be faced. - -Accordingly I engaged a servant with a rudimentary knowledge of English. -When the matter we spoke of was of no importance, such as my dinner, I -could generally understand him, when it was of importance, such as -the difficulties of the way, I could not, but I guessed, or the events -themselves as they unfolded became explanatory. This gentleman was a -small person with noble views on the subject of squeeze, as it pertained -to Missie's servant, and he wore on state occasions a long black coat of -brocaded silk, slit at the sides, and on all occasions the short -hairs that fringed the shaven front of his head stood up like a -black horsehair halo. He was badly pock-marked, very cheerful, and an -excellent servant, engineering me over difficulties so well that I had -to forgive him the squeeze, though in small matters I was occasionally -made aware I was paying not double the price, but seven times what it -ought to have been. However one buys one's experience. He was my first -servant and I paid him thirty dollars a month, so I was squeezed on that -basis. A six months' stay in China convinced me I could get as good a -servant for fifteen dollars a month, and feel he was well paid. - -His name was Tuan, pronounced as if it began with a “D,” and he engaged -for me two Peking carts with a driver each, and two mules apiece. One -was for myself and some of my luggage, the other took {153}my servant, -my humble kitchen utensils, and the rest of my baggage; and one Sunday -morning in May, it is hardly necessary to say it was sunny, because a -dull morning in May in Northern China is an exception hailed with joy, -the carts appeared at the door of the “Wagons Lits,” and we were ready -to start. At least everything was ready but me. I ached in every limb, -and felt sure that I was just beginning an attack of influenza. What was -to be done? I longed with a great longing for my peaceful bed. I did not -want to go venturing forth into the, to me, unknown wilds of China, but -I had engaged those carts at the rate of seven dollars a day for the -two, and I felt that I really could not afford to linger. Possibly the -fresh air might do me good. At any rate, I reflected thankfully, as I -climbed into the foremost cart, no active exertion was required of me. -And that only shows how remarkably little I knew about a Peking cart. -A man and a girl of my acquaintance rose up early in the morning to -accompany me the first ten miles on donkeys, we had tiffin together -beneath the shade of some pine-trees in a graveyard, and then they -wished me good-bye, and I started off with the comfortable feeling that -arises from the parting good wishes of kind friends. - -Now a Peking cart is a very venerable mode of progression. When our -ancestors were lightly dressed in woad, and had no conception of any -wheeled vehicle, the Chinese lady was paying her calls sitting in the -back of a Peking cart, the seat of honour under the tilt, well out of -the sight of the passers-by, while-her servant sat in front, the place -of comfort, if such a word can be applied to anything {154}pertaining to -a Peking cart, for in spite of its long and aristocratic record if there -is any mode of progression more wearying and uncomfortable I have not -met it. It is simply a springless board set on a couple of wheels with a -wagon tilt of blue cotton, if you are not imperial, over it, and a place -for heavy luggage behind. The Chinaman sits on the floor and does -not seem to mind, but the ordinary Westerner, such as I am, packs his -bedding and all the cushions he can raise around him, and then resigns -himself to his fate. It has one advantage people will tell you, it has -nothing to break in it, but there are moments when it would be a mighty -relief if something did break, for if the woodwork holds together, as it -tosses you from side to side, you yourself are one sore, bruised mass. -No, I cannot recommend a Peking cart, even on the smoothest road. - -And the roads in China are not smooth. We all know the description of -the snakes in Ireland, “There are no snakes,” and if in the same manner -could be described the roads in China, blessed would the roads in China -be, but as China is a densely populated country there are so-called -roads, upon which the people move about, but I have seldom met one that -was any better than the surrounding country, and very, very often on -this journey did I meet roads where it was ease and luxury to move off -them on to the neighbouring ploughed field. The receipt for a road there -in the north seems to be: Take a piece of the country that is really too -bad to plough or to use for any agricultural purposes whatever, that -a mountain torrent, in fact, has given up as too much for the water, -{155}upset a stone wall over it, a stone wall with good large stones -in it, take care they never for a moment lie evenly, and you have your -road. - -[Illustration 0233] - -Leaving Peking for the Eastern Tombs you go for the first two or three -hours along a paved way of magnificent proportions, planned and laid out -as a great highway should be. The great stones with which it is paved -were probably put there by slave labour, how many hundred years ago I -do not know, but the blocks are uneven now, some of them are gone -altogether, though how a huge block of stone could possibly disappear -passes my understanding, and whenever the carter could, he took the cart -down beside the road, where at least the dust made a cushion for the -nail-studded wheels, and the jarring and the jolting were not quite so -terrible. - -It takes as long to get beyond the environs of Peking in a cart as it -does to get out of London in a motor-car. First we passed through the -Babylonish gate, and the great walls were behind us, then, outside the -city, all looking dusty, dirty, and khaki-coloured in the brilliant -sunshine, were numerous small houses, and the wayside was lined with -booths on which were things for sale, green vegetables and salads -looking inviting, if I could have forgotten the danger of enteric, -unappetising-looking meat, bones, the backbones of sheep from which -all flesh had been taken, eggs, piles of cakes and small pies, shoes, -clothes, samovars, everything a poor man in a primitive community can -possibly require, and along the roadway came an endless array of people, -clad for the most part in blue cotton, men walking, men with loads slung -from a {156}bamboo across their shoulders, donkeys laden with baskets, -with sacks of grain, with fat Chinese on their backs, with small-footed -women being transported from one place to another; there were Peking -carts, there were mules, there were ponies; and this busy throng is -almost the same as it was a couple of thousand years ago. I wondered; -could I have taken a peep at the outskirts of London in the days of -Elizabeth of happy memory, would it not have been like this? But no. -The sky here is bright and clear, the sunshine hot, and the faces of -the moving crowd are yellow and oriental. This crowd is like the men who -toiled round the quarries of Babylon or Nineveh, and it is perhaps more -satisfied with itself and its position in the universe than any like -company of people anywhere in the world. That impression was forced upon -me as I stayed in Peking, it grew and grew as I got farther away from -the great city, and out into the country. - -But it was a long, long while before I could feel I was really in -the country. There was the khaki-coloured land, there were the -khaki-coloured houses built of mud apparently, with graceful, tiled -roofs, and blue-clad people everywhere, and everywhere at work. Always -the fields were most beautifully tilled, there were no fences, the -Chinese is too civilised to need a fence, and when you see stone walls -it is only because, since they can't be dropped off the planet into -space, the stones must be disposed of somehow, here and there the -kaoliang was coming up like young wheat, in vivid green patches that -were a relief from the general dust, and occasionally there were -trees, willow or poplar or fir, delightful to look upon, that marked a -graveyard, {157}and then, just as I was beginning to hope I was out in -the country, a walled town would loom up. - -And in the dusk of the evening we stopped and met for the first time the -discomforts of a Chinese inn. - -We had started rather late, and I had spent so much time bidding -farewell to my friends, that we did not reach the town we had intended -to, but put up at a small inn in a small hamlet. This, my first inn was, -like most Chinese inns, a line of one-storied buildings, built round the -four sides of a large courtyard. Mixed up with the rooms were the -stalls for the beasts, the mules and the little grey donkeys, with -an occasional pony or two, and the courtyard was dotted with stone or -wooden mangers. In the pleasant May weather there was no need to put all -the beasts under cover, and there were so many travellers there was not -room in the stalls for all the beasts. - -It was all wonderfully Eastern. I remembered, I could not but remember, -how once there arrived at such an inn a little company, weary and tired, -and “so it was, that while they were there, the days were accomplished -that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her first-born son, -and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger: because -there was no room for them in the inn.” - -I thought of that little company as the Peking cart jolted over the step -that is on the threshold of all Chinese doors--no one considers comfort -in China, what is a jolt more or less, a Peking cart will not break--and -I found myself in the courtyard, and a trestle was brought for me to get -down from {158}the cart. I might have jumped, I suppose, but one hundred -li, about thirty miles, had left me stiff and aching in every limb. My -head ached too with the influenza, and when I inspected the room offered -for my accommodation, I only wished drearily that there had been no room -in this particular inn, and that I might have slept out in the open. - -But that first day as I went across the plain, that while there were no -hills upon it rose slowly towards the hills, I realised that in China, -there is not the charm of the open road, you may not sleep under the -sky, you must put up at an inn, you would as soon think of camping -out in one of the suburbs of London. Indeed you might easily find more -suitable places for camping about Surbiton or Richmond than you would -among the sterile hills or cultivated valley bottoms of Northern China. -I hoped against hope for three days. I had a comfortable sleeping-bag -and the nights were fine, it seemed it would be so simple a thing to -camp a little off the roadside, even though I had no tent, and that -first night, when I smelled the smell of the rooms, rank and abominable, -and reeking of human occupancy, I envied my mules, and said that as I -got farther into the country I could certainly sleep outside. - -“Room for ten thousand merchant guests,” said the innkeeper in -characters of black on red paper over his door, and unless those -merchants were very small indeed, I am sure I don't know where he -proposed to put them. I remembered with a shudder, that one man of my -acquaintance had said: “What I cannot stand is the perpetual tramp, -{159}tramp, all night,” and I had my suspicions that the guests were -small on this occasion, and I feared lest they were going to be catered -for. There were also notices in the effective red and black that the -landlord would not be responsible for any valuables not confided to his -care, and exhorting the guests to be careful of fire. And it seemed to -me, as I looked at the rotting thatch and the dubious grey walls, that -a fire in this inn would be the very best thing that could happen to it. -You see I was specially particular this first night. I thought the next -inn might be better. I had a good deal to learn. “The tiger from the -Eastern Hills and the tiger from the Western Hills,” says the Chinese -proverb, “are both the same.” So everywhere a Chinese inn is about as -bad as it can be. They are mostly used by carters, and well-to-do people -always go to temples, when they are available. There wasn't a temple -about here, and I didn't know I could have lodged there had there been -one, so I resigned myself to the inevitable, and wondered with all the -energy that was left in me what adverse fate had set me down here. I -might have gone back, of course. In a way I was my own mistress; but -after all, we none of us own ourselves in this world. I had a book -to write, and material for that book was not to be got by staying -comfortably in the Wagons Lits Hotel, and therefore I very reluctantly -peeped into a room from which clouds of dust were issuing, and which -smelt worse than any place I had ever before thought of using as -a bed-chamber and dining-room combined. The dust was because I had -impressed upon the valued Tuan that I must have a clean room, so he had -importantly turned {160}two coolies on to stir up the dust of ages, a -thousand years at least, I should say, there seemed no end to it, and I -wondered, in addition to the merchant guests, what awful microbes were -being wakened out of their long sleep. Left alone, they might have been -buried so deep that they might not have come nigh me; but he was giving -them all a chance. After all it was only fair, a foreign woman did not -visit a Chinese inn every day of the week. After more dust than I had -ever seen before all at once, had come out of that room, I instructed -water to be brought and poured on things in general, and, when the -turmoil had quieted down a little, I went in and inspected my quarters. - -They all bear a strong family resemblance to one another, the rooms of -these Chinese inns. I always tried to get one that opened directly on -to the courtyard, as giving more chance of air. The Chinese, as a rule, -have not much use for fresh air. Tuan, had he had his way, would have -shut the door fast, as being more correct and private, and then I -should have been in an hermetically sealed room, lighted all along the -courtyard side by a most dainty latticework window covered with white -tissue paper, or rather tissue paper that had once been white. It had -been well-smoked during the winter, and a considerable quantity of the -dust that had been so industriously stirred up, had lodged there. But -air I must have, so I had the paper stripped off from the top of the -window as far down as my desire for privacy would allow. Below, the more -daring spirits, who had assembled to see the foreign woman, wetted their -fingers and poked them softly through the bottom part of the window; -and then {161}an eye appeared, so that it really seemed at first as if -I might as well have been comfortable and had all the paper off. I went -outside, and let it plainly be seen that I was very angry indeed, and -then Tuan, who had a great idea of my dignity, or rather of his dignity, -which was as nothing if I was of no consequence, put one of the “cartee -men” on guard, and once more I retired to my uncomfortable lodging. It -had a stone floor, being quite a superior sort of inn, the poorer sort -have only beaten earth, there were two wooden chairs of dark wood, high, -with narrow and uncomfortable seats, a table, also uncomfortably high, -and of course, the k'ang. Most people know all about the k'ang now, but -this was my first introduction to it as a working piece of furniture. It -is a platform of stone about two feet high, so constructed that a -small fire lighted underneath, and a very small fire it is, carries the -warmth, by a system of flues, all over it. It is covered generally -with matting, and on it is always a k'ang table, a little table -about eighteen inches square and a foot high, and, though this is not -intentional, covered with the grease of many meals. - -I looked doubtfully at the k'ang this first day. It seemed to me I could -not lodge in such a place, and I wished heartily that I had left the -describing of China to some more hardened traveller. There was a grass -mat upon it, hiding its stoniness, and I had powdered borax sprinkled -over it, about half a tin of Keating's followed, though I am told the -insects in China rather like Keating's, and only then did I venture to -have my bed set up. Alongside was placed my india-rubber bath, the -gift of a friend, and every night of that journey did I thank her with -{162}all my heart, it was so much nicer than my old canvas bath, and -making sure that the “cartee man” was still on guard I proceeded to wash -and undress and creep into my sleeping-bag. - -At only one Chinese inn where I stayed could food for the traveller be -had, and that was, I think, only because it combined the functions of -innkeeping and restaurant. In any case, of course, the foreign traveller -would not think of eating Chinese food, and I, like everyone else, -provided my own. I brought with me rice, tea, and flour. Tuan cooked for -me on an absurd little charcoal stove upon which I might have succeeded -in boiling an egg. With the exception of those few stores, I lived off -the country, buying chickens and eggs, onions, and hard little pears; -Tuan doing the buying, charging me at a rate that made me wonder how on -earth the “Wagons Lits” managed to board and lodge its guests at a day. -I used to think that, for sheer toughness, the palm might be given to -the West African chicken, but I withdraw that statement, he isn't in it -alongside the Chinese. We used to buy small birds about the size of a -pigeon, But an elderly ostrich couldn't have been tougher. My teeth, -thank Heaven, are excellent, but the Chinese chicken was too much for -them. I then saw why Tuan had provided a chopper for kitchen use, he -called it “cookee knife,” and the fiat went forth--I would have no more -chicken unless it was minced. - -But that first night I couldn't look at chicken, I couldn't even laugh -at the woodeny pears and rice which were the next course. I declined -everything, lay in bed and drank tea, the wind came in through {163}the -open lattice-work, guttered my candle and then blew it out, and I, first -hot, and then cold, and always miserable, stared at the luminous night -sky, cut into squares by the lattice-work of the window, was conscious -of every bone in my body, and wondered if I were not going to be very -ill indeed. - -[Illustration: 0243] - - - - -CHAPTER X--THE TUNGLING - -{164} - -_A Peking cart as a cure for influenza--Difficulties of a narrow -road--The dead have right of way--The unlucky women--Foot -binding--“Beat you, beat you”--Lost luggage--“You must send -your husband”--Letter-writing under difficulties--A masterless -woman--Malanyu--Most perfect place of tombs in the world._ - -|But I wasn't. As a rule I find I worry myself unnecessarily in life. -Either a thing can be altered, or it can't. If it can't there's an end -to the matter, worrying doesn't mend it. I had come here of my own free -will--it wasn't nice, but there was nothing to do but make the best of -it. In the morning if I wasn't very happy I was no worse, and to go back -that weary journey to Peking would only be to make myself ridiculous. -Therefore I arose with the sun, and a nice, bright cheerful sun he was, -looked at my breakfast, drank the tea and was ready to start. All the -hamlet watched me climb into my cart. I felt I couldn't have walked a -step to save my life, and we rumbled over that steep step, and were out -in the roadway again. - -It is not the best way to view a country from a Peking cart, for the -tossing from side to side is apt to engender a distaste for life and to -encourage a feeling that nothing would really matter if only the cart -would come to a standstill for a moment. Add to that the aching head of -influenza and that morning {165}I began to pity not only myself but my -publisher, for I began to fear he was going to lose money on me. It -was Byron, I think, who considered that Providence or somebody else who -shall be nameless always took care of publishers, and that is the reason -perhaps why I have come to the opinion that a trip in a Peking cart is -really the best cure for influenza. Had I gone to bed and had someone -kind and nice to wait upon me and bring me the milk and soda and offer -the sympathy my soul desired, I should probably have taken a fortnight -to get well; as it was, out in the open air from dawn to dark, three -days saw the end of my woes, and even at the worst I was able to sit up -and take a certain amount of interest in passing events. - -Gradually, gradually, as we went on we seemed to forget the great -city that absorbed all things, and the surroundings became more truly -countrified. The road, when it was not stones, was deep sand with deep, -deep ruts worn by the passing of many carts, and it stretched over just -as great a portion of the country as the people would allow. Flat it -was, flat, and all along the way were little villages and hamlets. There -was no temptation to walk, for it was very rough indeed, just the worn -road and the edge of the tilled fields, tilled as surely never before in -the world were fields tilled, and they stretched away to the far distant -blue hills. Occasionally the road sank deep between them, and as it was -very narrow the traffic question was sometimes troublesome. On this day -we met a country cart, a longer cart than the Peking cart, covered in -with matting and drawn by a mule and a couple of donkeys. Manifestly -there was not room for the carts to pass {166}and I wondered what would -happen for, for either of us, laden as we were, to go backwards -would have been difficult. I was requested to get out, which I did -reluctantly, my carts were drawn so close against the bank that the -right wheels were raised against it, and then they tried to get the -other cart past. No good, it would not go. About a dozen men all in -dirty, very dirty blue, with pointed hats of grass matting, looking -as if they had stepped off old-fashioned tea caddies, came and took an -intelligent interest, even as they might have done in Staffordshire, but -that didn't make the carts any smaller, and then they decided to drive -the country cart up the bank into the field above. They tried and tried, -they lashed that unfortunate mule and the donkeys, but with all their -pulling it was too heavy, up the bank it would not go. Chinese patience -was exemplified. But it was the mule and the donkeys that really -displayed the patience. I climbed the bank, sat on a stone and watched -them, and did not like to give my valuable advice, because these men -must have been driving carts along these roads all their lives, and -presumably must know something about it, while never in my life had I -handled a team consisting of two donkeys and a mule. At last when they -got an extra hard lashing and fell back, conquered once more, poor -brutes, by the weight, I rose up and interfered. I did not request--I -ordered. They were to take the two foremost mules from my carts -and hitch them on to the other cart. My foremost mule protested, he -evidently said he had never been associated with donkeys before; but in -two minutes they had got that cart to the higher level, and we were free -to go on our way. Why {167}they did not do it without my ordering I am -sure I do not know, for as a rule I had no authority over the carts, -they went their own way--I was merely a passenger. - -Once more that day the narrow way was blocked, this time by a funeral. -The huge coffin was borne by ten straining men, and there was no -parleying with it, the dead have right of way in China, and out of the -way we had to get. We backed with difficulty till the bank on one side -was a little lower, and then up we went till we were on the cultivated -land, drove on till we were ahead of the corpse, and then down again -into the roadway once more. - -In China, as far as I have been, you never get away from the people, -this country was far more thickly populated than the country round -London, for I have walked in Surrey lanes and found no one of whom to -ask a question, while here there were always people in sight. True, here -were no leafy lanes such as we find in Surrey and Kent, but the whole -country lay flat and outstretched till it seemed as if nothing were -hidden right up to the base of the far away hills. The days were getting -hot and the men were working in the fields stripped to the waist, while -most of the little boys were stark naked, pretty little lissom things -they were, too, if they had only been washed; and the little girls, for -all clothing, wore a square blue pocket-handkerchief put on corner-wise -in front, slung round the neck and tied round the waist with a bit of -string; but farther on, in the mountain villages, I have seen the little -girls like the little boys, stark naked. Only the women are clothed -to the neck, whatever the state of the thermometer. Always there were -houses by the {168}wayside, and many villages and hamlets, and the women -sat on the doorsteps sewing, generally it seemed to me at the sole of a -shoe, or two of them laboured at the little stone corn mills, that -were in every village, grinding the corn, the millet, or the maize, for -household use. Sometimes a donkey, and a donkey can be bought for a very -small sum, turned the stone, but usually it seemed that it was the -women of the household who, on their tiny feet, painfully hobbled round, -turning the heavy stone and smoothing out the flour with their hands, so -that it might be smoothly and evenly ground. - -Poor women! They have a saying in China to the effect that a woman eats -bitterness, and she surely does, if the little I have seen of her life -is any criterion. As I went through the villages, in the morning and -evening, I could hear the crying of children. Chinese children are -proverbially naughty, no one ever checks them, and I could not know why -these children were crying, some probably from the pure contrariness of -human nature, but a missionary woman, and a man who scorned missionaries -and all their works both told me that, morning and evening, the little -girls cried because the bandages on their feet were being drawn more -tightly. Always it is a gnawing pain, and the only relief the little -girl can get is by pressing the calf of her leg tightly against the edge -of the k'ang. The pressure stops the flow of blood and numbs the feet as -long as it is kept up, but it cannot be kept up long, and with the rush -of blood comes the increase of pain--a pain that the tightening of the -bandages deepens. - -“Beat you, beat you,” cries the mother taking a {169}stick to the little -suffering thing, “you cry when I bind your feet.” For a Chinese woman -must show no emotion, above all she must never complain. This, of -course, is a characteristic of the nation. The men will bear much -without complaining. - -I never grew accustomed to it. The pity and the horror of it never -failed to strike me, and if the missionaries do but one good work, they -do it in prevailing on the women to unbind their feet, in preventing -unlucky little girls from going through years of agony. - -There is no mistaking the gait of a woman with bound feet. She walks as -if her legs were made of wood, unbending from the hip downwards to the -heels. The feet are tiny, shaped like small hoofs about four inches -long, encased in embroidered slippers, and to walk at all she must hold -out her arms to balance herself. When I was laughed at for my “pathetic -note,” and was told I exaggerated the sufferings of the women, I took -the trouble to inquire of four doctors, three men and one woman, people -who came daily in contact with these women, and they were all of one -opinion, the sufferings of the women were very great. The binding in -girlhood was not only terribly painful but even after the process was -finished the feet were often diseased, often sore and ulcerated, and at -the very best the least exertion, as is only natural, makes them ache. - -“Try,” said one doctor, “walking with your toes crushed under your sole, -the arch of your foot pressed up till the whole foot is barely four -inches long, and you can only walk on your heel, and see if you do not -suffer--suffer in all parts of your body. They say,” he went on, “that -while there are many {170}peaceful, kindly old men among the Chinese, -every woman is a shrew. And I can well believe it. What else could you -expect? Oh women have a mighty thin time in China. I don't believe there -is any place in the world where they have a worse.” - -If anyone doubts that this custom presses heavily on the women, let him -ask any doctor who has practised much among the Chinese how many legs he -has taken off because the neglected sores of ulcerated, bound feet have -become gangrenous and a danger to life. - -“It really doesn't matter,” said another doctor I knew well, “a Chinese -woman is just as well with a pair of wooden legs as with the stumps the -binding has left her!” - -As a rule I did not see the beginnings, for though the women go about a -little, the small girls are kept at home. But once on this journey, at -a poor little inn in the mountains, among the crowd gathered to see the -foreign woman were two little girls about eight or nine, evidently the -innkeeper's daughters. They were well-dressed among a ragged crew. Their -smocks were of bright blue cotton, their neat little red cotton trousers -were drawn in at their ankles, and their feet, in tiny embroidered -shoes, were about big enough for a child of three. There was paint on -their cheeks to hide their piteous whiteness, and their faces were drawn -with that haunting look which long-continued pain gives. As they stood -they rested their hands on their companions' shoulders, and, when they -moved, it was with extreme difficulty. No one took any notice of them. -They were simply little girls suffering the usual agonies that custom -has ordained a woman {171}shall suffer before she is considered a meet -plaything and slave for a man. A woman who would be of any standing at -all must so suffer. Poor little uncomplaining mites, they laughed and -talked, but their faces, white and strained under the paint, haunted -me the livelong night, and I felt that I who stood by and suffered this -thing was guilty of a wicked wrong to my fellows. - -And foot binding may result in death. There was a child whose father, a -widower, not knowing what to do with his little girl, an asset of small -value, sold her to a woman of ill repute. The little slave was five -years old, but as yet, her feet had not been bound. Her mistress of -course took her in hand and bound her feet, so that she might be married -some day. But her feet being bound did not exempt small Wong Lan from -her household duties. Every morning, baby as she was, she had to get up, -kindle the fire, and take hot water to her mistress, who, in her turn, -did not give the attention they required to the poor little feet. With -feet sore, ulcerated and dirty, she went about such household duties as -a little child could do, till they grew so bad she could only lie about -and moan, and was a nuisance to the woman who had taken her. At last a -man living in the same courtyard had pity on her. He was a mason and had -worked at the great hospital the foreigners had set up just outside the -walls of the city where they lived, and he took her in his arms, a baby -not yet seven, and brought her to the doctor. She had cried and cried, -he said, and he thought she would die if she were left. The doctor when -he took her thought she was going to die whether she were left or not. -There and then he took a pair of {172}scissors, snapped two threads and -one foot was off, still in its filthy little slipper. The whole leg was -gangrenous and they nursed the baby up for a week till she was strong -enough to have the leg amputated at the hip. She grew better, though the -doctor shook his head over her. The missionaries decided they had better -keep her, and as she recovered, they set about getting her crutches. A -Chinese woman evidently begins to be self-conscious very soon, for the -mite cried bitterly when they wanted to measure her. The Chinese have a -great horror of any deformity, and she thought she would be an object of -scorn if she went about on crutches, and everyone could see she had only -one leg. Her idea was that she should sit all day long on the k'ang, and -then it would be hidden. However, her guardians prevailed, and presently -she was hopping about the missionary compound, and being a pretty, -taking little girl soon found friends who forgot, or what was more -important, taught Her to forget, that she was crippled. Someone gave -her a doll, and with this treasure tucked under her arm, she paid -visits from one house to the other, happy as the day was long, petted -by Chinese and foreigners alike. But the doctor who had shaken his head -over her at first was right. The poison was in her system, and in a -little over six months from the day she was brought in to the hospital -she died. Poor little mite! For six months she had been perfectly happy. -The man who had brought her in made her a coffin, the aliens who had -succoured and cared for her laid her there with the doll she had been -so proud of in her arms, and told all the Chinese who had known her they -might come and say a last farewell. They came, {173}and then--oh curious -human nature!--someone stole the poor little makeshift doll from the -dead baby's arms! - -Of course cruelty to children is a sin that is met with in countries -nearer home, is, in fact, more common in Christian England than in -heathen China. This was a death that was attributable to the low value -that is set on the girl child and to the cruel custom of binding the -feet. - -And not hundreds and thousands but millions of women so suffer. The -practice, they say, is dying out among the more enlightened in the -towns, but in the country, within fifteen miles of Peking, it is in full -swing. Not only are these “golden lilies” considered beautiful, but -the woman with bound feet is popularly supposed to care more for the -caresses of her lord, than she with natural feet. Of course, a man may -not choose his wife, his mother does that for him, he may not even see -her, but he can, and very naturally often does, ask questions about her. -The question he generally asks is not: “Has she a pretty face?” but: -“Has she small feet?” But if he did not think about it, the women of his -family would consider it for him. - -A woman told me, how, in the north of Chihli, the custom was for the -women of the bridegroom's family to gather round the newly arrived bride -who sat there, silent and submissive, while they made comments upon her -appearance. - -“Hoo! she's ugly!” Or worst taunt of all, “Hoo! What big feet she's -got!” - -Many will tell you it is not the men who insist upon bound feet, but the -women. And, if that is so, to me it only deepens the tragedy. Imagine -{174}how apart the women must be from the men, when they think, without -a shadow of truth, that to be pleasing to a man, a woman must be -crippled. The women are hardly to be blamed. If they are so ignorant as -to believe that no woman with large feet can hope to become a wife and -mother, what else can they do but bind the little girls' feet? Would any -woman dare deprive her daughter of all chance of wifehood and motherhood -by leaving her feet unbound? Oh the lot of a woman in China is a cruel -one, civilised into a man's toy and slave. I had a thousand times rather -be a negress, one of those business-like trading women of Tarquah, or -one of the capable, independent housewives of Keta. But to be a Chinese -woman! God forbid! - -It seems very difficult to make a Chinaman understand that a woman has -any rights, even a foreign woman, apart from a man. I remember being -particularly struck with this once at Pao Ting Fu, the capital of -Chihli, a walled town about three hours by rail from Peking. I lost -a third of my luggage by the way, because the powers that be, having -charged me a dollar and a half for its carriage, divided it into three -parts, and by the time I had discovered in what corner the last lot was -stowed, the train was moving on, and I could only be comfortably sure -it was being taken away from me at the rate of twenty miles an hour. -However, the stationmaster assured Dr Lewis, the missionary doctor with -whom I was living, that it should be brought back by the next day. - -Accordingly, next day, accompanied by a coolie who spoke no English, I -wended my way to the railway station and inquired for that luggage. The -{175}coolie had been instructed what to say, and I thought they would -simply bring me into contact with my lost property. I would pay any -money that was due, and the thing would be finished. But I had not -reckoned on my standing, or want of standing, as a woman. - -[Illustration: 0257] - -Nobody could speak a word of English. In the course of five minutes I -should say, the entire station staff of Pao Ting Fu stood around me, -and vociferously gave me their views--on the weather and the latest -political developments for all I know. If it was about the luggage I was -no wiser. Some were dressed in khaki, some in dark cloth with uniform -caps, and most had the wild hair that comes to the lower classes with -the cutting off of the queue. There were about a dozen of them with a -few idlers in blue cotton, patched, dirty, faded, and darned, and some -of these wore queues, queues that had been slept in for about a week -without attention, and they were all quite anxious to be nice to the -foreign woman, and took turns in trying to make her understand. In -vain. What they wanted I could not imagine. At last a lane opened, and -I guessed the vociferating crowd were saying: “Here is the very man to -tackle the situation.” There came along a little man in dark cloth who -stood before me and in the politest manner laid a dirty, admonitory -finger upon my breast He had a rudimentary knowledge of English but it -was very rudimentary, and I remembered promptly that this was a French -railway. - -“_Parlez-vous Français?_” said I, wondering if my French would carry me -through. - -He shook his head. As a matter of fact English, {176}pidgin-English, -is the language of China, when another tongue is wanted, and my new -friend's English was not at all bad--what there was of it. Though why I -should go to their country and expect these people to understand me I'm -sure I do not know. - -“Your luggage is here,” said he very slowly, emphasising every word by a -tap. - -“Thank Heaven,” I sighed, “take me to it,” but he paid no heed. - -“You”--and he tapped on solemnly--“must--send--your--husband.” - -This was a puzzler. “My husband,” I said meekly, “is dead.” - -It looked like a deadlock. It was apparently impossible to deliver -up her luggage to a woman whose husband was dead. Everybody on the -platform, including the idlers, made some suggestion to relieve the -strain, and feeling that it might help matters, I said he had been dead -a very long time, I was a lonely orphan and I had no brothers. They -probably discussed the likelihood of my having any other responsible -male belongings and dismissed it, and the man, who knew English, -returned to the charge. - -“Where--do--you--stay?” and he tapped his way through the sentence. - -“At Dr Lewis's.” I felt like doing it singsong fashion myself. - -“You--must--tell--Lu Tai Fu--to--come.” - -“But,” I remonstrated, “Dr Lewis is busy, and he does not know the -luggage.” - -There was another long confabulation, then a brilliant idea flashed like -a meteor across the crowd. {177}“You--must--go--back--and--write--a-- -letter,” and with a decisive tap my linguist friend stood back, and the -whole crowd looked at me as much as to say that settled it most -satisfactorily. - -I argued the matter. I wanted to see the luggage. - -“The--luggage--is--here”--tapped my friend, reproachfully, as if -regretting I should be so foolish--“you--must--go--back--write--one-- -piecey--letter.” - -“I'll write it here,” said I, and after about a quarter of an hour taken -up in tapping, I was conducted round to the back of the station, an -elderly inkpot and a very, very elderly pen with a point like a very -rusty pin were produced, but there was no paper. Everyone looked about, -under the benches, up at the ceiling, and at last one really resourceful -person produced a luggage label of a violent yellow hue, and on the back -of that, with some difficulty, for as well as the bad pen, there was a -suspicion of gum on the paper, I wrote a letter to “Dear Sir” requesting -that responsible individual to hand over my luggage to my servant, I -signed my name with as big a flourish as the size of the label would -allow, and then I stood back and awaited developments. - -Everybody in the room looked at that valuable document. They tried it -sideways, they tried it upside down, but no light came. At last the -linguist remarked with his usual tap: - -“No--can--read.” - -Well, I could read English, so with great _empressement_ and as if I -were conferring a great favour, I read that erudite document aloud to -the admiring crowd, even to my own name, and such was the magic of the -written word, that in about two {178}minutes the lost luggage appeared, -and was handed over to my waiting coolie! Only when I was gone doubt -fell once more upon the company. Could a woman, a masterless woman, be -trusted? they questioned. And the stationmaster sent word to Lu Tai Fu -that he must have his card to show that it was all right! - -If a woman counted for so little in a town where the foreigner was well -known, could I expect much in out-of-the-way parts. I didn't expect -much, luckily. The people came and looked at me, and they were -invariably courteous and polite, with an old-world courtesy that must -have come down to them through the ages, but they did not envy, I felt -it very strongly--at bottom they were contemptuous. As I have seen the -lower classes in an Australian mining town, as I myself have looked upon -a stranger in an outlandish dress in the streets of London, so these -country people looked upon me. It was just as well to make the most of a -show, because their lives were uneventful, that was all. - -It began to get on my nerves before I had done, this contemptuous -curiosity. I don't know that I was exactly afraid, but I grew to -understand why missionaries perish when the people have all apparently -been well-disposed. These people would not have robbed me themselves, -but had I met any of the robbers I had been threatened with in Peking, I -am sure not one of them would have raised even a finger to help me, they -would not even have protested. I was outside their lives. - -And at last, at Malanyu, the hills that at first had loomed purple on -the horizon, fairly overshadowed us, and I had arrived at the first -stage of my {179}journey, the Tungling, or Eastern Tombs. We did forty -miles that day over the roughest road I had gone yet, and thankful was I -when we rumbled through the gates of the dirty, crowded, little town. - -We put up at the smallest and filthiest inn I had yet met. Chinese -towns, even the smallest country hamlet, are always suggestive of slums, -and Malanyu was worse than usual, but I slept the sleep of the utterly -weary, and next morning at sunrise I had breakfast and went to see the -tombs. I went in state, in my own cart with an extra mule on in front, I -seated under the tilt a little back, and my servant and the head “cartee -man” on the shafts; and then I discovered that if a loaded cart is an -abomination before the Lord, a light cart is something unspeakable. But -we had seen the wall that went round the tombs the night Before, just -the other side of the town, so I consoled myself with the reflection -that my sufferings would not be for long. - -When the Imperial Manchus sought a last resting-place for themselves -they had the whole of China to choose from, and they took with Oriental -disregard for humbler people; but--saving grace--they chose wisely -though they chose cruelly. They have taken for their own a place just -where the mountains begin, a place that must be miles in extent. It is -of rich alluvial soil swept down by the rains from the hills, and all -China, with her teeming population, cannot afford to waste one inch of -soil. The tiniest bit of arable land, as I had been seeing for the last -three days, is put to some use, it is tilled and planted and carefully -tended, though it bear only a single fruit-tree, only a handful of -grain, but here we entered a park, waste land covering many miles, -wasted with {180}a royal disregard for the people's needs. It lay in a -great bay of the hills, sterile, stony, rugged hills with no trace of -green upon them, hills that stand up a perfect background to a most -perfect place of tombs. I had thought the resting-place of the Mings -wonderful, but surely there is no such place for the honoured dead as -that the Manchus have set up at the Eastern Tombs. - -Immediately we entered the gateway, the cart jolting wickedly along a -hardly defined track, I found myself in a forest of firs and pines -that grew denser as we advanced. Here and there was a poplar or other -deciduous tree, green with the greenness of May time, but the touch -of lighter colour only emphasised the sombreness of the pines and firs -that, with their dark foliage, deepened the solemnity of the scene. -Through their branches peeped the deep blue sky, and every now and again -they opened out a little, and beyond I could see the bare hills, brown, -and orange, and purple, but always beautiful, with the shadows chasing -each other over them, and losing themselves in their folds. Spacious, -grand, silent, truly an ideal place for the burial of Emperors and -their consorts is hidden here in the heart of mysterious, matter-of-fact -China, and once again I was shown, as I was being shown every day, -another side of China from the toiling thousands I saw in the great city -and on the country roads. - -Dotted about in this great park, with long vistas in between are -the tombs. They are enclosed in walls, walls of the pinkish red that -encloses all imperial grounds, generally there is a caretaker, and -they look for all the world like comfortable houses, picturesque and -artistic, nestling secluded and away {181}from the rush and roar of -cities, homes where a man may take his well-earned rest. The filthy inn -at which I stayed, the reeking little town of Malanyu, though it is at -the very gates, is as far-removed from all contact with the tombs as are -the slums of Notting Dale from the mansions in Park Lane, or the sordid, -mean streets of Paddington from the home of the King in Buckingham -Palace. The birds, the innumerable, much-loved birds of China sang in -the trees their welcome to the glorious May morning, and the only thing -out of keeping was my groaning, jolting, complaining Peking cart and the -shouts of the “cartee man” assuring the mules, so I have been told, that -the morals of their female relatives were certainly not above suspicion. - -Here and there, among the trees, rose up marble pillars tall and -stately, carved with dragons and winged at the top, such as one sees -in representations of Babylon and Nineveh, there was a marble bridge, -magnificent, with the grass growing up between the great paving-stones -that here, as everywhere in China, seem to mark the small value that -has been put on human flesh and blood, for by human hands have they been -placed here, and the uprights are crowned by the symbolic cloud form, -caught in the marble. This bridge crosses no stream. It is evidently -just a manifestation of power, the power that crushes, and beyond it is -an avenue of marble animals. There they stand on the green sward, the -green sward stolen from the hungry, curving away towards the p'ia lou -stand, as they have stood for many a long year, horses, elephants, -fabulous beasts that might have come out of the Book of Revelations, -guarding the entrance {182}to the place of rest. They are not nearly -so magnificent as the avenue at the Ming Tombs, they are only quaintly -Chinese, it is the winged pillars, the silence, the sombre pine and -fir-trees, and the everlasting hills behind that give them dignity. - -And now Tuan became very important. I began to feel that he had arranged -the whole for my benefit, and was keeping the best piece back to crown -it all. We came to a piece of wild country and I was requested to get -out of the cart. Getting out of the cart where there was no place -to step was always a business. I was stiff from the jolting, felt -disinclined to be very acrobatic, and Tuan always felt it his bounden -duty to stretch out his arms to catch me, or break my fall. He was so -small, though he was round and fat, that he always complicated matters -by making me feel that if I did fall I should certainly materially -damage him, but it was no good protesting, it was the correct thing for -him to help his Missie out of her cart, and he was prepared to perish in -the attempt. However, here was a soft cushion of fragrant pine needles, -so I scrambled down without any of the qualms from which I usually -suffered. We had come to a halt for a moment by the steep side of a -little wooded hill where a narrow footpath wound round it. Just such -a modest little path between steep rising ground one might see in the -Surrey Hills. It invites to a secluded glen, but no cart could possibly -go along it, it is necessary to walk. I turned the corner of the hill -and lo! there was a paved way, a newly paved way, such as I have seldom -seen in China. The faint morning breeze stirred among the pine -needles, making a low, mysterious whispering, and out against the back -{183}ground stood, a splash of brilliant, glowing colour, the many roofs -of golden-brown tiles that cover the mausoleum of the great woman -who once ruled over China, the last who made a stand, a futile stand, -against foreign aggression, and now a foreigner and a woman, unarmed and -alone, might come safely and stand beside her tomb. - -[Illustration: 0267] - -[Illustration: 0268] - -Perhaps that was the best way to view it, at any rate inside I could not -go, for the key I discovered was at Malanyu, and it would have taken -me at least half a day to go back and get it. Besides I don't think I -wanted to go inside. I would not for the world have spoilt the memory -that remains in my mind by any tawdry detail such as I had seen at the -younger Empress's funeral. It was just a little spoilt as it was by my -boy, who came along mysteriously and pointed with a secret finger at the -custodian of the tomb, who had not the keys. - -“Suppose Missie makee littee _cumshaw_. Suppose my payee one dollar.” - -And I expect the man did get perhaps sixty cents, because Tuan was -bent on impressing on these people the fact that his Missie was a very -important woman indeed. - -It was worth it, it was well worth it. - -They say that the old in China is passing away. “Behold upon the -mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings.” Will they sweep -away these tombs and give this land to the people? I hope not, I think -not, I pray not. The present in China is inextricably mixed up with the -past. “Oh Judah keep thy solemn feast, perform thy vows.” Sometimes it -is surely well that the beautiful should be kept for a nation, even at -great cost. - - - - -CHAPTER XI--A WALLED CITY - -{184} - -_Numerous walled towns--The dirt of them--T'ung Chou--Romance of the -evening light--My own little walled city--The gateways--Hospitable -landlady--Bald heads--My landlady's room--A return present--“The -ringleaders have been executed”--Summary justice--To the rescue of the -missionaries at Hsi An Fu--The Elder Brother Society-Primitive method of -attack and defence--The sack of I Chun._ - -|Oh that first walled city! It was the first of many walled cities, many -of them so small that it did not take us more than a quarter of an hour -to cross from gate to gate; but to enter one and all was like opening a -door into the past, into the life our forbears lived before the country -I was born and brought up in was ever thought of. When I was a little -girl, I cherished a desire to marry a German baron, a German baron of -the Middle Ages, who lived in a castle, and I could not help thinking, -as the influenza left me and I regained my powers of thought, that here -were the towns of my German baron's time--dirt and all. In my childhood -I had never thought of the dirt, or perhaps I had not minded. One thing -is certain, in the clean land of my childhood I never realised what the -dirt that comes from a packed population, from seething humanity, can -be like. The Chinese live in these crowded towns for the sake of -security--of security in this twentieth century--for even still, China -seems to be much in the condition of Europe of the Middle Ages, safety -cannot be absolutely counted upon inside the gates of a town, but at -least it is a little safer than the open country. - -{185}We passed through T'ung Chou when the soft tender evening shadows were -falling upon battlements and walls built by a nation that, though it -is most practical, is also one of the most poetical on earth; we passed -through Chi Chou when the shadows were long in the early morning, and -in the sunlight was the hope of the new-born day. Through the gate was -coming a train of Peking carts, of laden donkeys, of great grain carts -with seven mules, all bound for the capital in the south. - -I remember these two perhaps because they were the first of many walled -towns, but Tsung Hua Chou will always remain in my memory as my own -little walled city, the one that I explored carefully all by myself, -and, when I think of a walled town, my thoughts always fly back to that -little town, three-quarters of a mile square, at the foot of the hills -that mark the limit of the great plain of China proper. - -It was Tuan's suggestion we should stay there. I would have lingered at -the tombs, but he was emphatic. - -“Missie want make picture. More better we stop Tsung Hua Chou. Fine -picture Tsung Hua Chou.” - -There weren't fine pictures at Tsung Hua Chou. He had struck up a great -friendship with the “cartee man,” and, perhaps, either he or the “cartee -man” had a favourite gaming-house, or a favourite {186}singing girl -in the town. At any rate we went, and I, for some hardly explainable -reason, am glad we did. - -The road from the tombs was simply appalling. The hills frowned down -on us, close on either side, high and steep and rugged, but the rough -valley bottom, up which we went, was the wildest I was to see for a -long time. To say I was tossed and jolted, is to but mildly express the -condition of affairs. I sat on a cushion, I packed my bedding round me, -and with both my hands I held on to the side of the cart, and if for one -moment I relaxed the rigidity of my aching arms, my head or some other -portion of my aching anatomy, was brought into contact with the woodwork -of the cart, just in the place I had reckoned the woodwork could not -possibly have reached me. There were little streams and bridges across -them, which I particularly dreaded, for the bridges were always roughly -paved, but it was nobody's business to see that the road and the -pavement met neatly, and the jolt the cart gave, both getting on and -getting off, nearly shook the soul out of my body. I thought of walking, -for our progress was very slow, but in addition to the going being bad, -the mules went just a little faster than I did, three and a half miles -an hour to my three, and I felt there was nothing for it but to resign -myself and make the best of a bad job. Not for worlds would I have -lingered an hour longer on that road than I was absolutely obliged. And -yet, bad as it was, it was the best road I had till I got back to Peking -again. There may be worse roads than those of China, and there may be -worse ways of getting over them than in a {187}Peking cart, but I do -trust I never come across them. - -We entered the gates of the city as the evening shadows were growing -long, and as usual, I was carried back to the days of the Crusaders--or -farther still to Babylon--as we rumbled under the arched gateway, but -inside it was like every other town I have seen, dirty, sordid, crowded, -with uneven pavements that there was no getting away from. Within the -curtain wall, that guarded the gate, there were the usual little stalls -for the sale of cakes, big, round, flat cakes and little scone-like -cakes, studded with sesame seed, or a bright pink sweetmeat; there -were the sellers of pottery ware, basins and pots of all sorts, and the -people stared at the foreign woman, the wealthy foreign woman who ran -to two carts. It is an unheard-of thing in China for a Chinese woman to -travel alone, though sometimes the foreign missionary women do, but they -would invariably be accompanied by a Chinese woman, and one woman would -not be likely to have two carts. One thing was certain however, -my outfit was all that it should have been, bar the lack of a male -protector. It bespoke me a woman of wealth and position in the eyes of -the country folk, and the people of the little towns through which -I passed. It is possible that a mule litter might have enhanced my -dignity; but after all, two Peking carts was very much like having a -first-class compartment all to myself. - -There were no foreigners, that I could hear of, in Tsung Hua Chou. The -missionaries had fled during the Boxer trouble, and never come back, -so that I was more of a show than usual, though {188}indeed, in all -the towns I passed through I was a show, and the people stared, and -chattered, and crowded round the carts, and evidently closely questioned -the carters. - -They tell me Chinese carters are often rascals, but I grew to like mine -very much before we parted company. - -They were stolid men in blue, with dirty rags wrapped round their heads -to keep off the dust, and I have no reason to suppose that they affected -water any more than the rest of the population, whereby I perceive, my -affections are not so much guided by a desire for cleanliness as I had -once supposed. They both had the hands of artists, artists with very -dirty nails, so it may be a feeling of brotherhood had something to do -with my feelings, for I am hoping you who read will count me an artist -in a small way. What romance they wove about me, for the benefit of the -questioning people, I don't know, but the result of their communications -was that the crowd pressed closer, and stared harder, and they were -evil-smelling, and had never, never in all their lives been washed. I -ceased to wonder that I ached all over with the jolting and rumbling of -the cart, I only wondered if something worse had not befallen me, and -how it happened that these people, who crowded round, staring as if -never in their lives had they seen a foreign woman before, did not fall -victims to some horrible pestilence. - -For once inside Tsung Hua Chou I saw no beauty in it, for all the -romantic walls outside. The evil-smelling streets we rumbled through -to the inn were wickedly narrow, and down the centre hung notices in -Chinese characters on long strips of {189}paper white and red, and pigs, -and children, and creaking wheelbarrows, and men with loads, blocked the -way. But we jolted over the step into the courtyard of the inn at last, -quite a big courtyard, and quite a busy inn. This was an inn where they -apparently ran a restaurant, for as I climbed stiffly out of my cart a -servant, carrying a tray of little basins containing the soups and stews -the Chinese eat, was so absorbed in gazing at me he ran into the “cartee -man,” and a catastrophe occurred which was the occasion of much bad -language. - -[Illustration: 0276] - -The courtyard was crowded. There were blue-tilted Peking carts, there -were mules, there were donkeys, there were men of all sorts; but there -was only one wretched little room for me. It was very dirty too, and I -was very tired. What was to be done? - -“Plenty Chinese gentlemen sleep here,” declared Tuan, and I could quite -believe it. At the door of every lattice-windowed room that looked out -on to that busy courtyard, stood one, or perhaps two Chinese of the -better class--long petticoats, shaven head, queue and all--each held in -his hand a long, silver-mounted pipe from which he took languid whiffs, -and he looked under his eyelids, which is the polite way, at the -foreign woman. The foreign woman was very dirty, very tired, and very -uncomfortable, and the room looked very hopeless. The “cartee men” - declared that this was the best inn in the town, and anyhow I was -disinclined to go out and look for other quarters. Then there came -tottering forward an old woman with tiny feet, one eye and a yellow -flower stuck in the knot at the back of her bald head. China is the -country of bald {190}women. The men, I presume, would not mind it very -much, as for so long they have shaven off at least half their hair, but -the women certainly must, for if they can they dress their dark hair -very elaborately. And yet have I seen many women, like this innkeeper's -wife, with a head so bald that but a few strands of hair cover its -nakedness, yet those few poor hairs are gathered together into an -arrangement of black silk shaped something like a horn, and beside it -is placed a flower, a rose, a pink oleander blossom, or a bright yellow -flower for which I have no name. That flower gives a finish to a sleek -and well-dressed head, when the owner has plenty of hair, but when she -has only the heavy horn of silk, half a dozen hairs, and the rest of her -bald pate covered with a black varnish, it is a poor travesty. When a -girl marries, immediately after her husband has lifted her veil and she -is left to the women of his family they pluck out the front hairs on -her forehead, so as to give a square effect, and the hair is drawn very -tightly back and gathered generally into this horn. I suspect this -heavy horn is responsible for the baldness, though an American of -my acquaintance declares it is the plucking out of the hairs on the -forehead. “The rest of the hair,” says he, “kinder gets discouraged.” - -This innkeeper's wife was very kindly. She said I should not sleep in -that room, I should have her room, and she would go to her mother's. -The mother was a surprise to me. I hope when I am as old as she looked I -shall have a mother to go to. - -Now I do not as a rule embrace my landlady. In England I couldn't even -imagine myself feeling particularly kindly towards a dirty little woman -clad {191}in a shirt and trousers of exceedingly dirty blue cotton, but -the intention was so evidently kind and hospitable, I knew not a word of -her tongue, and was by no means sure the valued Tuan would translate my -words of thanks properly, so I could but take both her very dirty little -hands in mine, clasp them warmly, and try and look my thanks. - -Then I inspected her room. It was approached through an entrance where -lime was stored, it was rather dark, and it was of good size, though -on one side was stacked a supply of stores for the restaurant. Chinese -macaroni, that looks as if it were first cousin to sheet gelatine, stale -eggs and other nondescript eatables. There was a k'ang, of course, -quite a family k'ang, and there was a large mirror on one wall. I had -forgotten my camp mirror, so I looked in it eagerly, and the reflection -left me chastened. I hadn't expected the journey to improve my looks, -but I did hope it had not swelled up one cheek, and bunged up the other -eye. I felt I did not want to stay in the room with that mirror, but -there were other things worse than the mirror in it. The beautiful -lattice-work window had apparently never been opened since the first -cover of white tissue paper had been put on it, and the smell of human -occupancy there defies my poor powers of description. The dirty little -place I had at first disdained, had at least a door opening on to the -comparatively fresh air of the courtyard. I told Tuan to explain that -while I was delighted to see her room, and admired everything very -much in it, nothing would induce me to deprive her of its comforts. She -certainly was friendly. As I looked in the chastening mirror, I, like -a true woman, I suppose, put up {192}a few stray locks that the jolting -cart had shaken out of place, and she promptly wanted to do my hair -herself with a selection from an array of elderly combs with which -she probably dressed her own scanty locks. That was too much. I had to -decline, I trust she thought it was my modesty, and then she offered me -some of the macaroni. I tried to say I had nothing to give in return and -then Tuan remarked, “As friend, as friend.” So as a friend, from that -little maimed one-eyed old woman up in the hills of China, I took a -handful of macaroni and had nothing to give in return. I hope she feels -as friendly towards me as I shall always do towards her. - -It is not always that the difficulty of giving a return present is on -the foreign side, sometimes it is the Chinese who feel it. I remember -a traveller for a business house telling me how on one occasion he had -gone to a village and entertained the elders at dinner, giving -them brandy which they loved, and liqueurs which seemed to the -unsophisticated village fathers ambrosia fit for the gods. The next day, -when he was about to take his departure, a small procession approached -him and one of them bore on a tray a little Chinese handleless cup -covered with another. They said he could speak Chinese, so there was no -need for an interpreter, that he had given them a very good time, they -were very grateful, and they wished to make him a present by which he -might remember them sometimes. But their village was poor and small. -It contained nothing worth his acceptance, and after much consultation, -they had come to the conclusion that the best way would be to present -him with the money, {193}so that he might buy something for himself -when he came to Peking or some other large town. Thereupon the cup was -presented, the cover lifted off, and in the bottom lay a ten cent piece, -worth about twopence halfpenny. Probably it seemed quite an adequate -present to men who count their incomes by cash of which a thousand go to -the dollar. - -I don't think my landlady minded much my declining the hospitality of -her room. Possibly she only wished me to see its glories, and presently -she brought to the little room I had at first so despised, and now -looked upon, if not as a haven of rest, at least as one of fresh air, -a couple of nice hard wood stools, and a beautifully carved k'ang table -thick with grease. - -“Say must make Missie comfortable,” said Tuan with the usual suggestion -he had done it himself. - -And those stools were covered, much to my surprise, with red woollen -tapestry, and the pattern was one that I had seen used many a time in a -little town on the Staffordshire moors, where their business is to dye -and print. And here was one of the results of their labours, a “Wardle -rag,” as we used to call them, up among the hills of Northern China. - -I was too tired to do anything but go to bed that night as soon as I had -had my dinner. I had it, as usual, on the k'ang table, the dirt shrouded -by my humble tablecloth, and curious eyes watched me, even as I watched -the trays of full basins and the trays of empty ones that were for ever -coming and going across the courtyard. - -Next morning my friendly landlady brought to see me two other -small-footed women, both smoking {194}long pipes, women who said, -through Tuan, their ages were forty and sixty respectively, and who -examined, with interest, me and my belongings. They felt my boots so -much, good, substantial, leather-built by Peter Yapp, that at last I -judged they would like to see what was underneath, and took off a boot -and stocking for their inspection, and the way they felt my foot up and -down as if it were something they had never before met in their lives, -amused me very much, At least at first it amused me, and then it -saddened me. Though they held out their own poor maimed feet, they did -not return the compliment much as I desired it. They took me across the -courtyard into another room where, behind lattice-work windows, that had -not been opened for ages, were two more women sitting on the k'ang, and -two little shaven-headed children. These were younger women, tall and -stout, with feet so tiny, they called my attention to them, that it did -not seem to me possible any woman could support herself upon them. My -boy was not allowed in, so of course I could not talk to them, could -only smile and drink tea. - -These two younger women, who were evidently of superior rank, had their -hair most elaborately dressed and wore most gorgeous raiment. One was -clad in purple satin with a little black about it, and the other, a mere -girl of eighteen, but married, for her hair was no longer in a queue, -and her forehead was squared, wore a coat of pale blue silk brocade and -grass-green trousers of the same material. Their faces were impassive, -as are the faces of Chinese women of the better class, but they smiled, -evidently liked their tortured feet to be noticed, gave {195}me tea from -the teapot on the k'ang table, and then presently all four, with the -gaily dressed babies, tottered out into the courtyard, the older women -leading the toddling children, and helping the younger, and, with the -aid of settles, they climbed into two Peking carts, my elderly friends -taking their places on the outside, whereby I judged they were servants -or household slaves. - -“Chinese wives,” said Tuan, but whether they were the wives of one man, -or of two, I had no means of knowing. The costumes of the two younger -were certainly not those in which I would choose to travel on a Chinese -road in a Peking cart, but the Chinese have a proverb: “Abroad wear the -new, at home it does not matter,” so they probably thought my humble -mole-coloured cotton _crêpe_, equally out of place. - -And when they were gone I set out to explore the town. - -It was only a small place, built square, with two main roads running -north, and south, and east, and west, and cutting each other at right -angles in the heart of it. They were abominably paved. No vehicle but a -springless Peking cart would have dreamt of making its way across that -pavement, but then probably no vehicle save a cart or a wheelbarrow in -all the years of the city's life had ever been thought of there. -The remaining streets were but evil-smelling alley-ways, narrow in -comparison with the main ways which, anywhere else, I should have -deemed hopelessly inadequate, thronged as they were with people and -encroached upon by the shops that stood close on either side. They had -no glass fronts, of course, these shops, but otherwise, {196}they were -not so very unlike the shops one sees in the poorer quarters of the -great towns in England. But there was evidently no Town Council to -regulate the use to which the streets should be put. The dyer hung -his long strips of blue cloth half across the roadway, careless of the -convenience of the passer-by, the man who sold cloth had out little -tables or benches piled with white and blue calico--I have seen -tradesmen do the same in King's Road, Chelsea--the butcher had his -very disagreeable wares fully displayed half across the roadway, the -gentleman who was making mud bricks for the repair of his house, made -them where it was handiest in the street close to the house, and the man -who sold cooked provisions, with his little portable kitchen and table, -set himself down right in the fairway and tempted all-comers with little -basins of soup, fat, pale-looking steamed scones, hard-boiled eggs or -meat turnovers. - -This place, hidden behind romantic grey walls, at which I had wondered -in the evening light, was in the morning just like any other city, -Peking with the glory and beauty gone out of it, and the people who -thronged those streets were just the poorer classes of Peking, only it -seemed there were more naked children and more small-footed women with -elaborately dressed hair tottering along, balancing themselves with -their arms. I met a crowd accompanying the gay scarlet poles, flags, -musical instruments and the red sedan chair of a wedding. The poor -little bride, shut up in the scarlet chair, was going to her husband's -house and leaving her father's for ever. It is to be hoped she -would find favour in the sight of her husband and {197}her husband's -women-folk. It was more important probably, that she should please the -latter. - -The bridal party made a great noise, but then all in that town was -noise, dirt, crowding, and evil smells. The only peaceful place in it -was the courtyard of the little temple close against the city wall. -Outside it stand two hideous figures with hands flung out in threatening -attitude, and inside were more figures, all painted in the gayest -colours. What they meant I have not lore enough to know, but they were -very hideous, the very lowest form of art. - -[Illustration: 0286] - -There was the recording angel with a black face and the open book--after -all, the recording angel must often wear a black face--and there was -the eternal symbol that has appealed through all ages to all people, -and must appeal one would think above all, to this nation that longs -so ardently for offspring, the mother with the child upon her knee. But -they were all ugly to my Western eyes, and the only thing that charmed -me was the silence, the cleanliness, and the quiet of the courtyard, the -only place in all the busy little city that was at peace. - -When I engaged Tuan I had thought he was to do all the waiting upon me I -needed, but it seems I made a mistake. The farther I got from Peking the -greater his importance became, and here he could not so much as carry -for me the lightest wrap. His business appeared to be to engage other -people to do the work. There was one dilapidated wretch to carry the -camera, another the box with the plates, and yet a third bore the black -cloth I would put over my head to focus my pictures properly. It was not -a bit of good protesting, two minutes after I got rid {198}of one lot -of followers, another took their place, and as everyone had to be -paid, apparently, I often thought, for the pleasure of looking at me, I -resigned myself to my fate. - -Accompanied by all the idlers and children in the town I climbed the -ramp on to the walls, which are in perfect order, three miles round and -on the top from fifteen feet to twenty broad. That ramp must have been -always steep, the last thing a Chinese ever thinks about is comfort, -steep almost as the walls themselves, and everywhere the stones are -gone, making it a work of difficulty to climb to the top. Tuan helped me -in approved Chinese fashion, putting his hand underneath my elbow, and -once I was there the town was metamorphosed, it was again the romantic -city I had seen from the plain in the evening light. Now the early -morning sunlight, with all the promise of the day in it, fell upon -graceful curved Chinese roofs and innumerable trees, dainty with the -delicate vivid verdure that comes in the spring as a reward to a country -where the winter has been long, bitter, and iron-bound. - -The walls of most Chinese cities are built square, with right angles at -the four corners, but in at least two that I have been in, T'ung Chou -and Pao Ting Fu, one corner is built out in a bow. I rather admired the -effect at first, till I found it was a mark of deepest disgrace. There -had been a parricide committed in the town. When such a terrible thing -occurs a corner of the city wall must be pulled down and built out; a -second one, another corner is pulled down and built out, and a -third likewise; but the fourth time such a crime is committed in the -{199}luckless town the walls must be razed to the ground. But such -a disgrace has never occurred in any town in the annals of Chinese -history, those age-long annals that go back farther than any other -nation's, for if a town should be so unlucky as to have harboured four -such criminals within its walls they generally managed, by the payment -of a sum of money, to get a city that had some of its corners still -intact to take the disgrace upon itself. - -I strongly suspect too, that it is only when the offender is in high -places that his crime is thus commemorated, for I have only heard -of these two cases, and yet as short a while ago as 1912 there was a -terrible murder in Pao Ting Fu that shocked the town. It appeared there -was an idle son, who instead of working for his family, spent all his -time attending to his cage bird, taking it out for walks, encouraging -it to sing, hunting the graves outside the town for insects for it. His -poor old mother sighed over his uselessness. - -“If it were not for the bird!” said she. - -The young blood in China, it seems, goes to the dogs over a cage bird, a -lark or a thrush, as the young man in modern Europe comes to grief over -horse-racing, so we see that human nature is the same all the world -over. This Chinese mother brooded over her boy's wasted life, and one -day when he was out she opened the cage door and the bird flew away. - -When he came in he asked for the bird and she said nothing, only with -her large, sharp knife went on shredding up the vegetables that she -was putting into a large cauldron of boiling water for supper. He asked -again for the bird. Still she took no {200}notice, and he seized her -knife and slit her up into small pieces and put her into the cauldron. -He was taken, and tried, and was put to death by slicing into a thousand -pieces--yes, even in modern China--but they did not think it necessary -to pull down another corner of the city wall. Possibly they felt the -disgrace of a bygone age was enough for Pao Ting Fu. - -The corners of the walls of Tsung Hua Chou were as they were first -built, rectangular, and the watch-towers at those corners and over the -four gates from the distance looked imposing, all that they should be, -but close at hand I saw that they were tumbling into ruins, the doors -were fallen off the hinges, the window-frames were broken, all was -desolate and empty. - -“Once the soldier she watch here,” said my boy, whose pronouns were -always somewhat mixed. - -“Why not now?” - -“No soldier here now. She go work in gold mine ninety li away. Gold mine -belong Plesident.” - -Tuan had got as far as the fact that a President had taken the place of -the Manchu Emperor, but I wondered very much whether the inhabitants of -Tsung Hua Chou had. I meditated on my way back to “Missie's inn” on the -limitations of the practical Chinese mind that because it is practical, -I suppose, cannot conceive of the liberty, equality, and fraternity that -a Republic denotes. The President, to the humble Chinese in the street, -has just taken the place of the Emperor, he is the one who rules over -them, his soldiers are withdrawn. That there was a war in Mongolia, -a rebellion impending in the south, were items of news that had not -reached {201}the man in the street in Tsung Hua Chou who, feeling that -the soldiers must be put to some use, concluded they were working in the -President's gold mine ninety li away. - -[Illustration: 0292] - -A foreigner went to a Chinese tailor the other day to make him a suit of -clothes, and he found occasion to complain that the gentleman's prices -had gone up considerably since he employed him last. The man of -the scissors was equal to the occasion, and explained that, since -“revelations,” so many Chinese had taken to wearing foreign dress, he -was obliged to charge more. - -“You belong revolution?” asked the inquiring foreigner, anxious to find -out how far liberty, fraternity, and equality had penetrated. - -The tailor looked at him more in sorrow than in scorn. How could he be -so foolish. - -“I no belong revelation,” he explained carefully, as one who was -instructing where no instruction should have been necessary. The thing -was self-evident, “I belong tailor man.” - -When the revolution first dawned upon the country people all they -realised--when they realised anything at all--was that there was no -longer an Emperor, therefore they supposed they would no longer have to -pay taxes. When they found that Emperor or no Emperor taxes were still -required of them, they just put the President in the Emperor's place. -I strongly suspect that if the greater part of the inhabitants of my -walled city were to be questioned as to the revolution they would reply -like the tailor: “No belong revolution, belong Tsung Hua Chou!” - -But in truth the civilisation of China is still so {202}much like that -of Babylon and Nineveh, that it is best for the poor man, if he can, to -efface himself. He does not pray for rights as yet. He only prays that -he may slip through life unnoticed, that he may not come in contact with -the powers that rule him, for no matter who is right or who is wrong -bitter experience has taught him that he will suffer. - -We do not realise that sufficiently in the West when we talk of China. -We judge her by our own standards. The time may come when this may be a -right way of judging, but it has not come yet. Rather should we judge as -they judged in the days of the old Testament, in the days of Nineveh and -Babylon, when the proletariat, the slaves, were as naught in the sight -of God or man. - -A man told me how in the summer of 1912, travelling in the interior, he -came to a small city in one of the central provinces, a city not unlike -Tsung Hua Chou, like indeed a thousand other little cities in this realm -of Cathay. The soldiers quartered there had not been paid, and they -had turned to and looted the town. The unwise city men, instead of -submitting lest a worse thing happen unto them, had telegraphed their -woes to Peking, and orders had come down to the General in command that -the ringleaders must be executed. But no wise General is going to be -hard on his own soldiers. This General certainly was not. Still justice -had to be satisfied, and he was not at a loss. He sent a body of -soldiers to the looted shops, where certain luckless men were sadly -turning over the damaged property. These they promptly arrested. The -English onlooker, who spoke Chinese, declared to me solemnly these -arrested men were the merchants themselves, {203}their helpers and -coolies. That was nothing to the savage soldiery. There had to be -victims. Had not the order come from the central government. Some of the -men, there were twenty in all, they beat and left dead on the spot, the -rest they dragged to the yamen. The traveller, furious and helpless, -followed. Of course the guilt of the merchants was a foregone -conclusion. They never execute anyone who does not confess his guilt and -the justice of his sentence in China, but they have means of making -sure of the confession. Presently out the unfortunate men came again, -stripped to the waist, with their arms tied up high behind them, -prepared, in fact, for death. The soldiers dragged them along, they -protesting their innocence to unheeding ears. Their women and children -came out, running alongside the mournful procession, clinging to the -soldiers and to their husbands and fathers, and praying for mercy. They -tripped and fell, and the soldiers, the soldiers in khaki, pushed -them aside, and stepped over them, and dragged on their victims. The -traveller followed. No one took any notice of him, and what could he -do, though his heart was sore, one against so many. Through the narrow, -filthy streets they went, past their own looted shops. They looked about -them wildly, but there was none to help, and before them marched the -executioner, with a great sharp sword in his hands, and always the -soldiers in modern uniform emphasised the barbarity of the crime. -Presently they had distanced the wailing women and were outside the -walls, but the foreign onlooker was still with them. - -“And one was a boy not twenty,” he said with {204}a sharp, indrawn -breath, wiping his face as he told the ghastly tale. - -They knelt in a row, just where the walls of their own town frowned down -on them, and one by one the executioner cut off their heads. The death -of the first in the line was swift enough, but, as he approached the -end of the row the man's arm grew tired and he did not get the last two -heads right off. - -“I saw one jump four times,” said the shocked onlooker, “before he -died.” - -And then they telegraphed to Peking that order had been restored, and -the ringleaders executed. - -Since I heard that man's story, I always read that order has been -restored in any Chinese city with a shudder, and wonder how many -innocents have suffered. For I have heard stories like that, not of one -city, or told by one man, but of various cities, and told by different -men. The Chinese, it seems to me, copy very faithfully the European -newspapers, the great papers of the Western world. Horrors like that -are never read in a Western paper, therefore you never see such things -reported in the Chinese papers. After all they are only the proletariat, -the slaves of Babylon or Nineveh. Who counted a score or so of them -slain? Order has been restored, comes the message for the benefit of the -modern world, and in the little city the bloody heads adorn the walls -and the bodies lie outside to be torn to pieces by the _wonks_ and the -vultures. - -And when I heard tales like this, I wondered whether it was safe for a -woman to be travelling alone. It is safe, of course, for the Chinaman, -strange as it may sound after telling such tales, is at bottom more -law-abiding than the average {205}European. True, he is more likely to -insult or rob a woman than a man, because he has for so long regarded a -woman as of so much less consequence than a man, that when he considers -the matter he cannot really believe that any nation could hold a -different opinion. Still, in all probability, she will be safe, just as -in all probability she might march by herself from Land's End to John -o' Groats without being molested. She may be robbed and murdered, and -so she may be robbed and murdered in China. The Chinese are robbed and -murdered often enough themselves poor things. Also they do not suffer in -silence. They revenge themselves when they can. - -A man travelling for the British and American Tobacco Company, he was a -young man, not yet eight-and-twenty, told me how, once, outside a small -walled town, he came upon a howling mob, and parting them after the -lordly fashion of the Englishman, who knows he can use his hands, he saw -they were crowding round a pit half filled with quicklime. In it, buried -to his middle, was a ghastly creature with his eyes scooped out, and the -hollows filled up with quicklime. - -“If I had had a pistol handy,” said the teller of the tale, “I would -have shot him. I couldn't have helped myself. It seemed the only thing -to put him out of his misery, but, after all, I think he was past all -feeling, and I wonder what the people would have done to me!” - -They told him, when he investigated, that this man was a robber, that he -had robbed and murdered without mercy, and so, when he fell into their -hands, they had taken vengeance. {206}Was that Babylon, or Nineveh, I -wondered? Since such things happen in China one feels that the age of -Babylon and Nineveh has not yet gone by. Talk with but a few men who -have wandered into the interior, and you realise the strong necessity -for these walled towns. - -When the rumour of the slaughter of the Manchus, and the killing in the -confusion of eight Europeans at Hsi An Fu in Shensi in October 1911, -reached Peking, nine young men banded themselves together into the -Shensi Relief Force, and set out from the capital to relieve the -missionaries cut off there. One of these young men it was my good -fortune to meet, and the story of their doings, told at first hand, -unrolled for me the leaves of history. They set out to help the men and -women of their own colour, but as they passed west from Tai Yuan Fu, -again and again, the people of the country appealed to them to stop -and help them. The Elder Brother Society, the Ko Lao Hui were on the -warpath, and, with whatever good intentions this society had originated, -it was, on this way from Tai Yuan Fu to Hsi An Fu, nothing less than -a band of robbers, pillaging and murdering, and even the walled cities -were hardly a safeguard. Village after village, with no such defences, -was wrecked, burned, and destroyed, and their inhabitants were either -slain or refugees in the mountains. And the suffering that means, with -the bitter winter of China ahead of them, is ghastly to think of. -They died, of course, and those who were slain by the robbers probably -suffered the least. - -“What could we do? What could we possibly do?” asked my informant -pitifully. {207}At last they came to Sui Te Chou, a walled city, and Sui -Te Chou was for the moment triumphant. It had driven off the robbers. -The Elder Brother Society had held the little city closely invested. -They had built stone towers, and, from the top of them, had fired into -the city, and at the defenders on the walls, and, under cover of this -fire from the towers, they had attempted to scale the battlements. But -the people on the walls had pushed them down with long spears, and had -poured boiling water upon them, and, finally, the robbers had given -way, and some braves, issuing from the south gate had fallen upon them, -killing many and capturing thirty of them. It was a short shrift -for them, and a festoon of heads adorned the gateway under which the -foreigners passed. - -But, though victorious, the braves of Sui Te Chou knew right well that -the lull was only momentary. They were reversing the Scriptural order of -things, and beating their ploughshares into swords. The brigands would -be back as soon as they had reinforcements, the battle would be to the -strong and it would indeed be “Woe to the Vanquished!” - -“We could not help them. We could not,” reiterated the teller of the -tale sadly; “we just had to go on.” - -It was old China, he said, let us hope the last of old China. In that -town were English missionaries, a man and his wife, another man and -two little children, members of the English Baptist Church, dressed in -Chinese dress, the men with queues. These they rescued, and took along -with them, and glad were they to have two more able-bodied men in the -party, even though they were counterbalanced {208}by the presence of the -woman and two children, for everywhere along the track were evidences of -the barbaric times in which they lived. Human head? in wicker cages -were common objects of the wayside, and the wolves came down from -the mountains and gnawed at the dead bodies, or attacked the sick and -wounded. Old China was a ghastly place that autumn of 1911, during the -“bloodless” revolution. Chung Pu they reached immediately after it had -been attacked by six hundred men. - -“I had to kick a dog away that was gnawing at a dead body as we led -the lady into a house for the night,” said the narrator. “I could only -implore her not to look.” - -But at I Chün things were worse still. They reached it just as it had -fallen into the hands of the Elder Brother Society, and they began to -think they had taken those missionaries out of the frying-pan into the -fire. I Chün is a walled city up in the mountains of Shensi, and the -only approach was by a pathway so narrow that it only allowed of one -mule litter at a time. On one side was a steep precipice, on the -other the city wall, and along that wall came racing men armed -with matchlocks, spears, and swords, yelling defiance and prepared, -apparently, to attack. The worst of it was there was no turning that -litter round. They halted, and the gate ahead of them opened, and right -in the centre of the gateway was an ancient cannon with a man standing -beside it with a lighted rope in his hand. Turn the litter and get away -in a hurry they could not. Leave it they could not. There was seemingly -no escape for them. It only wanted one of those excited men to shout -“Ta, Ta,” and the match {209}could have been applied, and the ancient gun -would have swept the pathway. Then the leader of the band of foreigners -stepped forward. He flung away his rifle, he flung away his revolver, he -flung away his knife, and he stood there before them defenceless, with -his arms raised--modem civilisation bowing for the moment before the -force of Babylon. It was a moment of supreme anxiety. Suppose the people -misunderstood his actions. - -“We scarcely dared breathe,” said the storyteller. Every heart stood -still. And then they understood. The man with the lighted rope dropped -it, and they beckoned to the strangers to come inside the gates. - -It required a good deal of courage to go inside those gates, to put -themselves in the power of the Elder Brother Society, and they spent an -anxious night. The town had been sacked, the streets ran blood, the -men were slain, their bodies were in the streets for the crows and the -_wonks_ to feed on, and the women--well women never count for much -in China in times of peace, and in war they are the spoil of the -victor--the Goddess of Mercy was forgotten those days in I Chün. All -night long the anxious little party kept watch and ward, and when day -dawned were thankful to be allowed to proceed on their way unmolested, -eventually reaching Hsi An Fu and rescuing all the missionaries who -wished to be rescued. - -“It was exciting,” said my friend, half apologising for getting excited -over it. “It was the last of old China. Such things will never happen -again.” - -Exciting! it thrilled me to hear him talk, to know such things had -happened barely a year before, to {210}know they had happened in this -country. Would they never happen again? I was not so sure of that as I -went through walled town after walled town, as I looked up at the walls -of Tsung Hua Chou. This was the correct setting. To talk in friendly, -commonplace fashion to people who lived in such towns seemed to -annihilate time, to bring the past nearer to me, to make me understand, -as I had never understood before, that the people who had lived, and -suffered, and triumphed, or lived, and suffered, and fallen, were almost -exactly the same flesh and blood as I was myself. - -Back at the inn my friend the landlady brought me her little grandson to -admire. He was a jolly little unwashed chap with a shaven head, clad in -an unwashed shift, and I think I admired him to her heart's content. It -was evidently worth having been born and lived all the strenuous weary -days of her hard life to have had part in the bringing into the world -of that grandson. His little sister in the blue-cornered handkerchief, -looking on, did not count for much, and yet she had her own feelings, -for when I clambered into my cart and was just rumbling over the step I -was startled by a terrified childish outcry. Looking back, I saw that -a little serving-maid, a slave probably, was running after my cart with -the small son and heir in her arms, making believe to give away -the household treasure to the foreign woman, with grandmother and -subordinates looking smilingly on. Only the little sister, who was not -in the secret, was shrieking lustily in protest. - -I had been thinking of the cities in the plain of Mesopotamia! And this -carried me back to the {211}days of my own childhood and the hills -round Ballarat! Many and many a time in my young days have I seen the -household baby offered to the “vegetable John,” and the small brothers -and sisters shrieking a terrified protest. “They would be good, and love -baby, and never be cross with him any more.” Here was I taking the place -of the smiling, bland, John Chinaman of my childhood. After all human -nature is much the same all the world over, on the sunny hills of -Ballarat, or in a walled city at the foot of the mountains in Northern -China. If we could but bridge the gulf that lies between, I expect we -should have found it just exactly the same on the banks of the Euphrates -and beneath the walls of Babylon. - - - - -CHAPTER XII--THE NINE DRAGON TEMPLE - -{212} - -_The crossing of the Lanho--A dust storm--Dangers of a new inn--Locked -in--Holy mountain--Ruined city--My interpreter--A steep hill--The barren -woman--Unappetising food--The abbot--The beggar--Burning incense--The -beauty of the way._ - -|We were fairly in the mountains when we left Tsung Hua Chou. As we -crawled along slowly, and I trust with dignity, though dignity is not -my strong point, I looked up to the hills that towered above us, almost -perpendicular they seemed in places, as if the slope had been shorn off -roughly with a blunt knife, and I saw that one of these crags, that -must have been about a thousand feet above the valley bottom, anyhow it -looked it in the afternoon sunlight, was crowned by buildings; and not -feeling energetic, nobody does feel energetic who rides for long in a -Peking cart, I thanked my stars that I had not to go up there. I thought -if it were the most beautiful temple in the world I would not go up -that mountain to visit it. Which only shows that I did not reckon on my -Chinese servant. There may be people who can cope single-handed with the -will of a Chinaman. I can't. I know now that if my servant expresses a -desire for a thing, he will only ask, of course, for what is perfectly -correct and good {213}for his Missie, he will have it in the end, so it -is no good struggling; it is better to give in gracefully at first. - -[Illustration: 306] - -As we neared a river, the Lanho, or I suppose I should say the Lan, for -“ho” means a river, the clouds began to gather for the first time since -I had set out on my journey, and it seemed as if it were going to rain. - -“Must make haste,” said Tuan looking up at the grey sky with the clouds -scurrying across it, and making haste in a Peking cart is a painful -process. - -By the time we arrived at the river-banks it was blowing furiously, and -a good part of the country, as always seems to be the case in China when -the wind blows, was in the air. The river, wide and muddy and rather -shallow, was flowing swiftly along, and the crossing-place was just -where the valley was widest, and there was a large extent of sand on -either bank, so there was plenty of material for the wind to play with. -It used it as if it had never had a chance before and was bound to make -the most of it. There were many other people on that sandy beach, there -were other Peking carts, there were laden country carts with their -heavily studded wheels cut out of one piece of wood, looking like the -wheels Mr Reed puts on his prehistoric carts in _Punch_, there were -laden donkeys and mules, there were all the blue-clad people in charge -of the traffic, and there were tiny restaurants, rough-looking shacks -where the refreshment of these people was provided for. They weren't -refreshing when I arrived, the wind was blowing things away piecemeal, -and every man seemed to be grabbing something portable, or putting it -down with a stone upon it to anchor it. {214}“Must make haste,” said -Tuan again, as he helped me out of the cart, and the wind got under my -coat, tore at my veil, and succeeded in pulling down some of my hair. - -We had got beyond the region of bridges, I suppose in the summer the -floods come down and sweep them away, and everybody was crossing on a -wupan, a long, shallow, flat-bottomed boat that had been decked in the -middle to allow of carts being taken across. The mules were taken out, -and the carts with the help of every available man about, except the fat -restaurant-keeper, were got on the boat. - -“Must make haste,” repeated Tuan, distributing with a liberal hand my -hard-earned cents. I used to think a cent or two in China didn't matter, -but I know by bitter experience they mount up. - -And then just as we were all ready, my leading mule, a fawn-coloured -animal of some character, expressed his disapproval of the mode of -transit by a violent kick, and broke away. The dust was blowing in heavy -clouds, but every now and then I could see through the veil a dozen -people racing after him, while he kicked up his heels in derision, -and in a fashion of which I should not have thought any beast that -had brought a Peking cart so far over such roads was capable. Then a -brilliant idea occurred to the younger “cartee man.” He decided to mount -the white mule that led the other cart. This was a meek-looking beast -who I presume always did exactly as he was told; but a worm will turn, -and to be ridden after all the long journey was more than even he would -stand. With a buck and a kick he got rid of the “cartee man,” and then -{215}there were two mules careering about in the wild dust storm. It -looked highly probable that they would take advantage of their liberty -to go back to Peking, and I crossed that river wondering very much how I -was to get any farther on my journey, and whether lost mules were a part -of the just expenditure expected of a foreign woman. After about two -hours, however, they were brought in, the fawn-coloured mule as perky as -ever, but the white one so depressed by his only taste of freedom that -he never recovered as long as I had the pleasure of his acquaintance. - -Before we were on our way again the dust storm had subsided, and I was -shaking the mountains, or the Gobi Desert, or whatever it was, out of -the folds of my clothes and out of my hair and eyes, and Tuan was once -more urgent. - -“Must make haste.” - -But it was no good, we had lost too much time, we could not possibly -reach the little town we had planned to reach, and before the sun set -we turned into the yard of a little hostelry in a small mountain hamlet -underneath the holy mountain that was crowned with the temple I had been -looking at all the afternoon. - -And then to my joy I found that this place was clean, actually clean!! -Two notes of exclamation do not do proper justice to it. The yard bore -little traces of occupation, the room I was shown into had a new blue -calico curtain at the door, it was freshly whitewashed, a clean mat was -on the k'ang, the wood that edged it was new, and there was clean tissue -paper over the lattice-work of the windows. The floor, of course, was -only hard, beaten earth, but that did not matter. I would sit on the -k'ang, and {216}besides this place smelt of nothing but whitewash. I -rejoiced exceedingly as I had the paper torn off the top of the window -to let in the fresh air, but Tuan looked at it from another point of -view. - -“Must take care,” said he, “this new inn. 'Cartee man' no know she. Must -take care,” and he looked so grave that I wondered what on earth was the -penalty I ran the risk of paying for cleanliness. - -They evidently were afraid, for all the luggage, which as a rule stayed -strapped on the carts in the inn yard, was taken off and brought in. I -was worth robbing, for I had about seven-and-twenty pounds in dollars in -my black box, and that, judging by what I saw, would have bought up all -the villages between Jehol and Peking. However, it was no good worrying -about it, however agitated Tuan might be. Besides, anyhow he was -something of a coward, all Chinese servants are, it seems to me. - -His fear didn't seem to last very long, for presently he came bustling -in, all excitement. - -I was brushing my hair to try and get some of the dust out of it, and -reflecting there was possibly some reason in so many Chinese women being -bald. It must be much easier to keep a hairless head free from dust. - -“Missie, Missie, innkeeper man, she say my Missie come in good time. -Nine Dragon Temple,” he pointed upwards, and I knew with a sinking heart -he meant the one I had watched all day and decided that to it I would -not go, “open one time for ten day, never in year open any more,” and he -looked at me to see his words sink in. They sank in right enough. I knew -I was going there, but still I protested. - -“I cannot walk up that mountain.” - -“No walk, Missie no walk, can get chair.” - -Still I struggled. “It will cost too much money.” - -“Three dollars, Missie, can do. Not spend much monies,” and he looked -at me as much as to say I would never let three dollars, about six -shillings, stand between me and a wonder that was only open for ten days -in the year, especially when I had arrived on the auspicious day. - -“But what will you do, Tuan, {217}I really cannot afford a chair for you,” - for I knew my follower on every occasion, even when I should have walked -made a point of riding. He looked at me, but I suppose he saw I had -reached the limit of my forbearance. His chest swelled out virtuously. - -“I strong young man, I walk.” - -I made another effort. “But the bottom of the mountain is a good way -off, how shall I get there?” - -“I talkee 'cartee man,' he takee Missie two dollars.” - -It was mounting up. I knew it would. - -“But who will look after our things here?” - -“One piecey 'cartee man,' stop,” said he airily. So it was all arranged -and I was booked for the Nine Dragon Temple whether I liked it or not. -Then there was the night to consider in this new inn, the safety of -which Tuan had doubted. In my room were all my possessions, including -the black box with the money in it, and I looked at the door and saw to -my dismay that there was no fastening on the inside. - -“I take care Missie,” said Tuan loftily, and then {218}proceeded to -instruct me in the precautions he had taken. - -“Innkeeper man ask how long Missie stay and I say p'r'aps five day, -p'r'aps ten day. No tell true.” No tell true indeed, for I had every -intention of leaving next day even if I did have to go up to the -mountain temple in the morning. - -Again I looked at the rough planks of the door coming down to the -earthen floor, and decided I would draw my heavy box across it, and I -said so to Tuan. - -But he was emphatic, “I take care Missie,” I wonder if he would have -done so had there really been any danger. Then he bid me good night and, -going out, drew the door to after him and proceeded to lock it on -the outside! I presume he put the key in his pocket. Some papers have -honoured me by referring to me as a “distinguished traveller,” and I -have had hopes of being elected to the Royal Geographical Society! For -a moment I thought of calling him back indignantly, and then I thought -better of it. “A man thinks he knows,” says the Chinese proverb, “but a -woman knows better.” - -The window was frail and all across the room, and I knew I could break -the lattice-work if I wanted to, so could the thief for that matter, so -I slept peacefully, the sleep of the utterly weary, and the innkeeper -proved an honest man after all. - -And next day, after breakfast, just as the sun was rising, I started -for the Nine Dragon Temple. The peak which it crowned stood out from the -rest like a very acute triangle. They say the camera cannot lie, I only -know I did not succeed in getting a photograph of that mountain that -gave any idea of its steepness. Its slopes, faintly tinged with green -and dotted with fir-trees, fell away like the sides of a house from the -narrow top that was crowned with buildings. It was just one of the -many holy mountains that are scattered over China, and it seemed to me, -looking up, that nothing but a bird could reach it. But still I had -to try. All the country was bathed in the golden rays of the sun as I -climbed into the cart, and we made our way through a ruined city that -must once have been very rich and prosperous. Only the poorest of the -poor apparently lived among the ruins, and we went through a ruined -gateway where no man watched now, and over half-tilled fields, to the -supplementary temple at the bottom of the mountain. - -Here Tuan blossomed forth wonderfully. Up till now he had only been my -servant, a most important servant but still a servant, now he became, on -a sudden, that much more important functionary, my interpreter. - -A solemn old gentleman in a dark-coloured robe with a shaven head -received me with that perfect courtesy which it is my experience these -monks always show, escorted me into a large room with a k'ang on one -side and a figure of a god, large and gorgeous, facing the door. He -asked me my age, as apparently the most important question he could -ask--it _is_ rather an important factor in one's life--and then when I -was seated on the k'ang, with my interpreter, in his very best clothes -of silk brocade, on the other, a variety of cakes in little dishes were -set on the k'ang table beside me, and a small shavenheaded little boy -who I was informed was called “Trees” was set to pour out tea as long -as I would drink it. I was so amused at the importance of Tuan. Not -for worlds would I have given him away as he sat there sipping tea -and nibbling at a piece of cake; and I wonder still what he thought I -thought. Did he fear I should call him to account for sitting down as if -he were on terms of equality with me? Did he think I was a fool, or was -he properly grateful that I allowed him this little latitude? At any -rate, except in the matter of squeeze, he always served me very well -indeed, and there is no doubt my dignity was enhanced by going about -with a real, live interpreter. The priest could not know what a very -inadequate one he was. - -Presently they came and announced that the chair was ready. - -“Put on new ropes,” announced my interpreter pointing out the lashings -to me. The chair was fastened to a couple of stout poles and four -coolies, they might have been own brothers to the ones I had at the Ming -Tombs, lifted it to their shoulders and we were off. All the people who -dwelt in the little hamlet that clustered round the temple at the -foot of the mountain, hoary-headed old men, little, naked children, -small-footed women, peeped out and looked at the foreign woman as she -passed on her pilgrimage up the steep and narrow pathway, the first -foreigner that had passed up this way for some years, and probably the -only one who would pass up this year. It took a good many people to get -me up, I noticed, it wouldn't have been Tuan if it hadn't. There was -his all-important self of course, there was a man carrying my camera, -another one carrying my umbrella and a bundle of incense sticks, there -were various minor hangers-on in the shape of small boys, and there -were, of course, my four chair coolies. - -[Illustration: 0316] - -[Illustration: 0317] - -A Chinese chair is a most uncomfortable thing anyway, and this had -exaggerated the faults of its kind. Always it is so built that there is -not seat enough, while the back seems specially arranged to pitch the -unlucky occupant forward. It is bad enough in the ordinary way--going up -a mountain, and a very steep mountain, it is anathema, and coming down -it is beyond words. And this mountain was steep, its looks had not -belied it; never have I gone up such a steep place before, never, I -devoutly hope, shall I go up such a steep place again. The mountain fell -away, and I looked out into space on either side. I could see hills, of -course, away in the far distance, with a great gulf between me and them, -rounded, treeless hills with just a faint touch of green upon them, and -the trees on my own mountain, firs and pines with an occasional poplar, -green and fresh with the tender green of May time, stood up at an acute -angle with the hill-side above, and an obtuse angle below. The air was -fresh, and keen, and invigorating, and in the green grass grew bulbs -like purple crocuses, wild jessamine sweetly scented, and delicate blue -wild hyacinths, that in Staffordshire they call blue bells. I remember -once in a delightful wood in the Duke of Sutherland's grounds near -Stoke-on-Trent, that most sordid town of the Black Country, seeing the -ground there carpeted with just such blossoms as I saw here on the holy -mountain in China. - -Up we went and up. There were stone steps put together without mortar, -all the way, and there were platforms every here and there, where -the weary {222}might rest, and because the hill was so steep, these -platforms were generally made by piling up stones that looked as if a -touch would send them rolling to the bottom of the mountain, a step and -one would be over oneself, for there were no barriers. It was twelve li, -four miles up, and the way was broken by smaller temples dedicated to -various gods, among them one to the goddess who takes pity on barren -women. This one was half-way up the mountain, and here we met a -small-footed woman toiling along with the aid of a stick. Half-way up -that cruel mountain she had crawled on her aching feet, and every day -she would come up, she told us, to burn incense at the shrine. And she -looked old, old. It would be a miracle indeed, I thought, if she bore -that longed-for child. Hope must be dying very hard indeed. And yet she -must have known. Poor thing, poor weary woman, what was the tragedy of -her life? Children, one would think, were a drug in the market in China, -they swarm everywhere. I burned an incense stick for her and could only -hope the God of Pity would answer her prayer, and take away her reproach -before men. - -Up and up and up, and so steep it grew I was fain to shut my eyes else -the sensation that I would fall off into space would have been too much -for me. From the doorways of the wayside temples we passed through we -looked into space, and the mountains at the other side of the valley -seemed farther away than ever. A cuckoo called and called again “Cuckoo! -Cuckoo!” As we waited once a coolie passed with a bamboo across his -shoulder from which were slung two very modern kerosene tins--Babylon -and America meeting--and they told me there was no water on the -mountain, every drop had to be carried up; and then the men took up -the poles on their shoulders and tramped on again, and every time they -changed the pole from one shoulder to the other I felt I would surely -fall off into the valley, miles below. Up and up and up, they were -streaming with perspiration, and at last when it seemed to me we had -arrived at the highest point of the world, and that it was very like -a needle-point, they set down my chair at the bottom of the flight of -steps that led up to the entrance to the main temple, and the abbot and -a crowd of monks stood at the top to greet me. - -They swarmed everywhere, it was impossible to estimate their numbers, -young men and old, all with shaven heads and dark, rusty red robes, and -then others, blind, and halt, and maimed, evidently pensioners on their -bounty. It seemed to me it could hardly be worth while to climb up so -steep a place for the small dole that was all the monks had it in their -power to give. It must have been so little, so little. They showed me -the shrine, a poor little shrine to one who had seen the wonders of the -Lama Temple in Peking. I took a picture of the abbot standing in front -of it, and they showed me their kitchen premises, where were great jars -of vegetables salted and in pickle, and looking most unappetising, but -that apparently, with millet porridge, was all they had to live on. - -It was crowded, it was dirty, it was shabby, but there were great stone -pillars, eighteen of them, that they told me had been brought from a -great distance south of Peking, and had been carried up the mountain in -the days of the Mings, long before there were {224}the steps, which were -only put there a little over a hundred years ago--quite recently for -China. How they could possibly get them up even now that there are four -miles of steep stone steps I cannot possibly imagine. Babylon! Babylon!! -I shut my eyes and saw the toiling slaves, heard the crack of the -taskmaster's whip, and the hopeless moan of the man who sank, crushed -and broken, beneath the burden. - -The abbot bowed himself courteously over a gift of thirty cents which -Tuan, and I am sure he would not have understated it, said was the -proper _cumshaw_, and I bade them farewell and turned to go down that -hill again. The thought of it was heavy on my soul. Outside was a -beggar, men are close to starvation in China. The wretched, forlorn -creature, with wild hair and his nakedness hidden by the most disgusting -rags, had followed my train up all those four steep miles in the hope of -a small gift. For five cents he too bowed himself in deepest gratitude. -It was a gift I was ashamed of, but the important interpreter considered -he had the right to regulate these things, and he certainly led me -carefully on all other occasions. Then I looked at my chair and I looked -at the steep steps down which we must go. How could I possibly manage it -without getting giddy and pitching right forward, for going down would -be much worse than coming up had been. And then the men showed me that I -must get in and be carried down backwards. - -Would they slip? I could but trust not. I was alone and helpless, days, -and they must have known it, from any of my own people. They might -easily have held me up and demanded more than the three dollars for -which they had contracted, but they did not. Patient, uncomplaining, -as the Babylonish slaves to whom I had compared them, they carried me -steadily and carefully from temple to temple all the way down, and at -every altar we stopped I sat and looked on, and Tuan burned incense -sticks, the officiating priest, he was very poor, dirty and shabby, -struck a melodious gong as the act of adoration was accomplished and -Tuan, in all his best clothes, knelt and knocked his head on the ground. -I wondered whether I, too, was not acquiring merit, for my money had -bought the incense sticks, and my money, it was only a trifling ten -cents, paid the wild-looking individual, with torn coat and unshaven -head, who carried them up the mountain. - -[Illustration: 0323] - -[Illustration: 0324] - -Oh, but I had something--something that I cannot put into words--for -my pains; the something that made the men of five hundred years before -build the temple on the mountain top to the glory of God, my God and -their God, by whatever Name you choose to call Him. It was good to sit -there looking away at the distant vista, at the golden sunlight on the -trees and grass, at the shadows that were creeping in between, to smell -the sensuous smell of the jessamine, and if I could not help thinking -of all I had lost in life, of the fate that had sent me here to the Nine -Dragon Temple, at least I could count among my gains the beauty that lay -before my eyes. - -And when I reached the bottom of the mountain in safety, I felt I had -gained merit, for the men who had carried me so carefully were wild with -gratitude, and evidently called down blessings upon my head, because I -gave them an extra dollar. It pleased me, and yet saddened me, because -it seemed an awful thing that twenty-five cents apiece, sixpence -{226}each, should mean so much to any man. Their legs ached, they said. -Poor things, poor things. Many legs ache in China, and I am afraid more -often than not there is no one to supply a salve. - -So we came back to the little mountain inn in the glorious afternoon, -and the people looked on us as those who had made a pilgrimage, and Tuan -climbed a little way down from his high estate. He set about getting -me a meal, the eternal chicken, and rice, and stewed pear, and I looked -back at the mountain I had climbed and wondered, and was glad, as I am -often glad, that I had done a thing I need never do again. - -Was there merit? For Tuan, let us hope, even though I did pay for -the incense sticks, for me, well I don't know. On the mountain I was -uplifted, here in the valley I only knew that the view from the high -peak, the vista of hill and valley, the greenness of the fresh grass on -the rounded, treeless hills, and the greenness of the springing crops -in the valley, the golden sunshine and the glorious blue sky of Northern -China, the sky that is translucent and far away, was something well -worth remembering. Truly it sometimes seems that all things that are -worth doing are hard to do. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII--IN THE HEART OF THE MOUNTAINS - -{227} - -_Etiquette of the Chinese cart--Ruined city--The building of the -wall--The advice of a mule--A catastrophe--The failing of the Peking -cart--Beautiful scenery--Industrious people--The posters of the -mountains--Inn yards--The heads of the people--Mountain dogs--Wolves--A -slum people--Artistic hands--“Cavalry”--The last pass._ - -|And now we were on the very borders of China proper. The road was -simply awful, very often just following the path of a mountain torrent. -Always my cart went first, and however convenient it sometimes seemed -for the other cart to take first place, it never did so. Suppose we -turned down a narrow path between high banks and found we were wrong and -had to go back, the second cart would make the most desperate effort and -get up the bank rather than go before me. Such is Chinese etiquette, and -like most rules and customs when one inquires into the reason of them, -there is some sense at the bottom of it. A Chinese road is as a rule -terribly dusty and the second cart gets full benefit of all the dust -stirred up. - -The day after we had been to the Nine Dragon Temple we passed through -the Great Wall at Hsing Feng K'ou, another little walled city. We had -spent the night just outside the ruined wall of an old city, a city that -was nearly deserted. There were {228}the old gateways and an old bell -tower, even an old cannon lying by the gate, but more than half the -people were gone, and those who remained were evidently poor peasants, -living there I should say because building material was cheap, and eking -out the precarious existence of the poor peasant all over China. The -hills were very close down now and the valleys very narrow, and on -a high peak close to the crumbling walls was the remains of a beacon -tower. Here by the border they had need to keep sharp watch and ward. -I suppose they have nothing to fear now, or perhaps there is nothing -to take, but in one ruined gateway I passed through they were tending -swine, and in another they were growing melons. At least it would never -be worth the raiders while to gather and carry away the insipid melon of -China. - -The Wall is always wonderful. It was wonderful here even in its decay. -The country looked as if some great giant had upheaved it in great flat -slabs, raising what had been horizontal almost into the perpendicular. -It would have been impossible I should have thought for any man, let -alone an invading army, to cross there; there were steep grassy slopes -on one side, on the other the precipice was rough and impassable, and -yet, on the very top of the ridge, ran the wall, broken and falling -into decay in some places. I do not wonder that it has not been kept -in repair, what I wonder is that it was ever built. Tradition says they -loaded goats with the material and drove them to the top of the hills, -but it seems to me more likely they were carried by slaves. All the -strenuous past lived for me again as the sunlight touched the tops -of the watch-{229}towers and I saw how carefully they were placed to -command a valley. And that life is past and gone, the Manchus have -conquered and passed away, and the Mongols--well the Mongols they say, -when they come in contact with the Chinese, always beat them, and yet it -is the Chinese who, pushing out beyond the Wall, settle on and till the -rich Mongol pasture lands. There is now no need of the Wall, for the -Chinese, the timid Chinese have gone beyond it. - -Inner Mongolia they call this country beyond the Wall, and worse and -worse got the road, sometimes it was between high banks, sometimes on -a ledge of the hills, sometimes it followed the course of a mountain -torrent, but always the general direction was the same, across or -along a valley to steep and rugged hills, hills sterile, stony, and -forbidding, and through which there seemed no possible way. There -was always a way to the valley beyond, but after we passed the Wall I -considered it possible only for a Peking cart, and by and by I came to -think it was only by supreme good luck that a Peking cart came through. -There was a big brown mule in the shafts of my cart, and the fawn mule -led, so far away that I wondered more than once whether he had anything -to do with the traction at all, or whether it was only his advice that -was needed. He was a wise mule, and when he came to a jumping-off place, -with apparently nothing beyond it, he used to pause and look round as -much as to say: - -“Jeewhicks!” you couldn't expect much refinement from a Chinese mule, -“this is tall No can do.” {230}The carter would jump down from his place -on the tail of the shaft. He would make a few remarks in Chinese, which, -I presume, freely translated were: - -“Not do that place? What 're yer givin' us? Do it on me 'ed.” - -Then the fawn-coloured mule would return to his work with a whisk of his -tail which said plainly as words: - -“Oh all serene. You say can do. Well, I ain't in the cart, I ain't even -drawing the cart, and I ain't particular pals with the gentleman in the -shafts, so here goes.” - -And the result justified the opinion of both. We did get down, but it -seemed to me a mighty narrow squeak, and I was breathless at the thought -that the experience must be repeated in the course of the next hour or -so. At first I was so terrified I decided I would walk, then I found -it took me so long--one mountain pass finished off a pair of boots--and -there were so many of them I decided I had better put my faith in -the mules if I did not wish to delay the outfit and arrive at Jehol -barefoot. But I never went up and down those passes without bated breath -and a vow that never, never again would I trust myself in the mountains -in a Peking cart. Still I grew to have infinite faith in the Peking -cart. I was bruised and sore all over, and I found the new nightgowns -and chemises in my box were worn into holes with the jolting, but -I believed a Peking cart could go anywhere, and then my confidence -received a rude shock. - -We came to a stony place, steep and stony enough in all conscience, but -as nothing to some of the places we had passed over, where there had -been a precipice on one side and a steep cliff on the other, and where -to go over would certainly have spelled grave disaster, but here there -was a bank at either side and the fawn-coloured mule never even looked -round before negotiating it. Up, up went one side of the cart, but I was -accustomed to that by this time, up, up, the angle grew perilous, and -then over we went, and I was in the tilt of the cart, almost on my head, -and the brown mule in the shafts seemed trying to get into the cart -backwards. I didn't see how he could, but I have unlimited faith in -the powers of a Chinese mule, so, amidst wild yells from Tuan and the -carters, I was out on to the hillside before I had time to think, and -presently was watching those mules make hay of my possessions. -They didn't leave a single thing either in or on that cart, camera, -typewriter, cushions, dressing-bag, bedding, all shot out on to what the -Chinaman is pleased to consider the road, even the heavy box, roped on -behind, got loose and fell off, and the mule justified my expectations -by, in some mysterious way, breaking the woodwork at the top of the -cart and tearing all the blue tilt away. It took us over an hour to get -things right again, and my faith in the stability of a Peking cart was -gone for ever. - -[Illustration: 0332] - -We were right in the very heart of the mountains now, and the scenery -was magnificent, close at hand hills, sterile and stony, and behind -them range after range of other blue hills fading away into the bluer -distance. Day after day I looked upon a scene that would be magnificent -in any land, and here in China filled me with wonder. Could this be -China, practical, prosaic China, China of the ages, {232}this beautiful -land? And always above me was the blue sky, always the golden sunshine -and the invigorating, dry air that reminded me, as I have never before -been reminded, of Australia. - -But, however desolate and sterile the hills, and they seldom had more -than an occasional fir-tree upon them, in the valleys were always people -and evidences of their handiwork in the shape of wonderfully tilled -fields. There are no fences, the Chinaman does not waste his precious -ground in fences, but between the carefully driven furrows there is -never a weed, and all day long the people are engaged turning over -the ground so that it will not cake, and may benefit by every drop of -moisture that may be extracted from the atmosphere. A little snow in -the winter, a shower or two in April, and the summer rains in July or -August, are all this fruitful land requires for a bountiful harvest, but -I am bound to say it is fruitful only because of the intense care that -is given to it. No one surely but a Chinese peasant would work as these -people work. In every valley bottom there is, according to its size, a -town, perhaps built of stones with thatched roofs, a small hamlet, or -at least a farmhouse, enclosed either behind a neat mud wall or a more -picturesque one of the yellow stalks of the kaoliang. And the people are -everywhere, in the very loneliest places far up on the hills I would see -a spot of blue herding black goats or swine, and on parts of the road -far away from any habitation, when I began to think I had really got -beyond even the ubiquitous Chinaman, we would meet a forlorn, ragged -figure, an old man past other work or a small boy with a bamboo across -his shoulders and slung {233}from it two dirty baskets. With scoop in -hand he was gathering the droppings of the animals with which to make -argol for fuel, for enough wood is not to be had, and in this respect so -industrious are the Chinese that their roads are really the cleanest I -have ever seen. - -There were strangely enough here, in the heart of the mountains, signs -of foreign enterprise, for however desolate the place might seem, sooner -or later we were sure to come across the advertisements of the British -American Tobacco Company. There they would be in a row great placards -advertising Rooster Cigarettes, or Peacock Cigarettes or Purple Mountain -Cigarettes, half a dozen pictures, and then one upside down to attract -attention. I never saw the men who put them there, and I hate the -blatant advertisement that spoils the scenery as a rule. Here I greeted -them with a distinct thrill of pleasure. Here were men of my race and -colour, doing pioneering work in the out-of-the-way corners of the -earth, and I metaphorically made them a curtsy and wished them well, for -no one knows better than I do the lonely lives they lead. But they are -bringing China in touch with the outside world. - -By and by we came to a place where carts were not seen, the people were -wiser than I, but there was a constant stream of laden mules and donkeys -bringing grain inside the wall. Long before I could see them I could -hear the jingling of the collar of bells most of them wore, and in an -inn yard we always met the train and saw them start out before us in the -morning, though we were early enough, I saw to that, often have I had -my breakfast before five o'clock, or coming in after we did in the -{234}dusk of the evening. I objected to travelling in the dusk. I felt -the roads held pitfalls enough without adding darkness to our other -difficulties. - -The inns grew poorer and poorer as we got deeper into the mountains but -always I found in those inn yards something interesting to look at. By -night I was too weary to do anything but go to bed, but I generally had -my tiffin in a shady spot in a corner of the yard and watched all -that was going on. The yard would be crowded with animals, mules, and -donkeys, and always there were people coming and going, who thought the -foreign woman was a sight not to be missed. There have been missionaries -here or in Chihli for the last hundred years, so they must have seen -foreign women, but the sight cannot be a common one judging by the way -they stared. There would be well-to-do Chinamen riding nice-looking -donkeys, still more prosperous ones borne in litters by a couple of -protesting mules, and in every corner of the yard would be beasts -eating. And all these beasts of burden required numerous helpers, and -the hangers-on were the most dilapidated specimens of humanity I have -ever seen, not nearly so sure of a meal, I'm afraid, as the pigs and -hens that wandered round scavenging. There would be an occasional old -woman and very, very seldom a young one with large feet marking her as -belonging to the very poorest class, but mostly they were men dressed in -blue cotton, faded, torn, ragged, and yet patched beyond recognition. - -“Patch beside patch is neighbourly,” says an old saw, “but patch upon -patch is beggarly.” The poor folks in the inn yards not only had patch -upon patch, but even the last patches were torn, and they {235}looked -far more poverty-stricken than the children who played about this -pleasant weather wearing only their birthday dress. But they all had -something to do. An old man whose bald head must have required little -shaving and whose weedy queue was hardly worth plaiting, drew water from -the well, another who had adopted the modern style of dressing the hair -gathered up the droppings of the animals, a small boy with wild hair -that no one had time to attend to, and clad in a sort of fringe of -rags, drove away the hideous black sow and her numerous litter when she -threatened to become a nuisance, and from earliest dawn to dark there -were men cutting chaff. The point of a huge knife was fixed in the end -of a wooden groove, one man pushed the fodder into its position and -another lifted the knife by its wooden handle and brought it down with -all his strength. Then he lifted it, and the process was repeated. I -have seen men at work thus, in the morning before it was light enough to -see, I have seen them at it when the dusk was falling. There do not seem -to be any recognised hours for stopping work in China. And all the -heads of these people were wild. If they wore a queue it was dirty and -unplaited, and the shaven part of their heads had a week's growth of -bristles, and if they were more modern in their hair-dressing, their -wild black hair stuck out all over the place and looked as if it had -originally been cut by the simple process of sticking a basin on the -head and clipping all the hairs that stood out round it. But untidy -heads of hair are not peculiar to the inn yard, they are common enough -wherever I have been in China. There were always innumerable children in -the yard, too, with heads {236}shaven all but little tails of hair here -and there, which, being plaited stiffly, stood out like the headgear of -a clown, and there were cart men and donkey men, just peasants in blue, -with their blouses girt round their waists. There were the guests, too, -petticoated Chinese gentlemen, squires, or merchants, or well-to-do -farmers, standing in the doorways looking on, and occasionally ladies, -dressed in the gayest colours, with their faces powdered and painted, -peeped shyly out, half secretively, as if they were ashamed, but felt -they must take one look at the foreign woman who walked about as if she -were not ashamed of the open daylight, and was quite capable of managing -for herself. Sometimes I was taken to the women's quarters, where the -women-folk of the innkeeper dwelt, and there, seated on a k'ang, in a -room that had never been aired since it was built, I would find feminine -things of all ages, from the half-grown girl, who in England would have -been playing hockey, to the old great grandmother who was nursing the -cat. They always offered me tea, and I always took it, and they always -examined my dress, scornfully I am afraid, because it was only of -cotton, and wanted to lay their fingers in the waves of my hair, only I -drew the line at those dirty hands coming close to my face. At first it -all seemed strange, but in a day I felt as if I had been staying in just -such inns all my life. The farther one wanders I find the sooner does -novelty wear off. As a little girl, to go fifty miles from my home and -to have my meals off a different-patterned china gave me a delightful -sense of novelty, and to sleep in a strange bed kept me awake all night. -Now in an hour--oh far less--nothing feels new, not even the courtyard -of a Chinese mountain inn. - -[Illustration: 0340] - -I have never seen so many people with goitres. The missionaries at -Jehol told me it was very much dreaded, and that the people brought the -affliction upon themselves by flying into violent passions. I doubt very -much whether that is the origin of the goitre; but that it is very -much dreaded, I can quite believe. For not only does a goitre look most -unsightly, but the unfortunate possessor must always keep his head very -straight, for if he lets it drop forward, even for a moment, he closes -the air passages, and is in danger of suffocating. I have heard it is -brought on by something in the water. Water, of course, I never dared -drink in China. I saw very pleasant, clear-looking, liquid drawn up -from the wells in those inn courtyards in closely plaited buckets of -basket-work, but I never ventured upon it. I always remembered Aunt -Eliza: - - “In the drinking well - - Which the plumber built her, - - Aunt Eliza fell. - - We must buy a filter.” - -Aunt Eliza's cheerful, if somewhat callous, legatees had some place -where they could buy a filter, I had not, besides, I am sure, all the -filters in the world could not make safe water drawn from a well in a -Chinese inn yard, so I drank tea, which necessitates the water being -boiled. - -The Chinese build their wells with the expectation of someone, not -necessarily Aunt Eliza, coming to grief in them. On one occasion a man -of my acquaintance was ordering a well to be made in his yard, and -he instructed the well-sinker that he need {288}not make it, as the -majority of Chinese wells are made, much wider at the bottom than at the -top. But the workman shook his head. - -He must make it, he said, wide enough at the bottom for a man--or woman, -they are the greatest offenders--to turn round if he flung himself in. -He might change his mind and want to get out again, and if a body were -found in a well not roomy enough to allow of this change of mind, he, -the builder, would be tried for murder. - -This thoughtful consideration for the would-be suicide, who might wish -to repent, is truly Chinese. Personally I doubt very much whether anyone -would take the trouble to investigate the bottom of a well. There might -easily be something very much worse than Aunt Eliza in it. Presumably -she was a well-to-do, and therefore a clean old lady, while the -frequenters of those yards were beyond description. - -The people in the little towns, and more especially those in the lonely -farm-houses which looked so neat and well-kept in contrast with the -ragged, dirty objects that came out of them, kept a most handsome breed -of dogs. Sometimes they were black and white, or grey, but more often -they were a beautiful tawny colour. They were, apparently, of the same -breed as the _wonks_ that infest all Chinese towns, but there was the -same difference between these dogs and the _wonks_ as there is between -a miserable, mangy mongrel and the pampered beast that takes first prize -at a great show. Indeed, I should like to see these great mountain -dogs at a show, I imagine they would be hard to beat. They looked very -fierce, whether they are or not I don't know, because I always gave them -a wide berth, and {239}Tuan, the cautious, always shook his head when -one came too close, called to someone else with a stick to drive it -away, and murmured his usual formula: “Must take care.” They told me -there were wolves among these mountains, and I can quite believe it, -though I never saw one. In the dead of winter they are fierce and -dangerous, and much dreaded. They come into the villages, steal the -helpless children, will make a snap at a man in passing and inflict -terrible wounds. A Chinaman will go to sleep in all sorts of -uncomfortable spots, and more than one has been wakened by having -half the side of his face torn away. Of such a wound as this the man -generally dies, but so many are seen who have so suffered, and gruesome -sights they are, that the wolves must be fairly numerous and exceedingly -bold. They take the children, too, long before the winter has come upon -the land. There was a well-loved child, most precious, the only son of -the only son, and his parents and grandparents being busy harvesting -they left him at home playing happily about the threshold. When they -came back, after a short absence, they found he had been so terribly -mauled by a wolf that shortly after he died, and the home was desolate. -And yet these wolves are very difficult to shoot. - -“I have never seen one,” a man told me. “Again and again, when I was in -the mountains, the villagers would come complaining of the depredations -of a wolf. I could see for myself the results of his visit, but never, -never have I found the wolf. It seems as if they must smell a gun.” - -When first I heard of the wolves I laughed. I was so sure no beast of -prey could live alongside {240}a Chinaman, the Chinaman would want to -eat him. - -“They would if they could catch him,” said my friend, “but they can't, -though the majority of the population are on the look-out for him. There -is nothing of the hunter about the Chinaman.” - -“Meat!” said a wretched farmer once, rubbing his stomach, when the -missionaries fed him during a famine. He couldn't remember when he had -tasted meat, and not in his most prosperous year had he had such a feast -as his saviours had given him then. - -“How much do you make a year?” asked the missionary. - -He thought a little and then he said that, in a good year, he perhaps -made twelve dollars, but then, of course, all years were not good years. -But we, on our part, must remember that these people belong to another -age, and that the purchasing power of the dollar for their wants is -greater than it is with us. - -Very, very lonely it seems to me must these mountain villages be when -the frost of winter holds the hills in its grip, very shut out from the -world were they now in the early summer, and very little could they -know of the life that goes on within the Wall, let alone in other lands. -Indeed there are no other lands for the Chinese of this class, this -is his country, and this suffices for him, everybody else is in outer -barbarism. - -Steeper and steeper grew the hills, more and more toilsome the way, and -the people, when we stopped, looked more and more wonderingly at the -stranger. At one place, where I had tiffin, I shared the room and the -k'ang, the sun was so hot and there was no shade, so I could not stay -outside, with six women {241}of all ages, two had babies that had never -been washed, two had hideous goitres, and all had their hair gathered -into long curved horns at the back. There was also on the floor, a -promising litter of little pigs, and three industrious hens. The women's -blue coats were old, torn, patched, soiled, and yet----oh the pity of -it, these women, who had to work hard for their living, work in the -fields probably, had their feet bound. One had not, but all the rest -were maimed. Two of them had their throats all bruised, and I wondered -if they had been trying to hang themselves as a means of getting away -from a life that had no joy in it, but I afterwards found that with two -coins, or anything else that will serve the purpose, coins are probably -rather scarce, they pinch up the flesh and produce these bruises as a -counter-irritant, and, ugly as it looks, it is often very effective. - -These should have been country people, if ever any people belonged to -the country, and then, as I looked at them, the truth dawned on -me. There are no country people in the China I have seen, as I from -Australia know country people, the men of the bush. They--yes--here in -the mountains, are a people of mean streets, a slum people, decadent, -the very sediment of an age-long civilisation. I said this to a man who -had lived long in China and spoke the language well, and he looked at me -in surprise. - -“Why,” he said, “they all seem to me country people. The ordinary people -of the towns are just country yokels.” - -But we meant exactly the same thing. I looked at the country people I -had known all my life, the capable, resourceful pioneers, facing new -conditions, {242}breaking new ground, ready for any emergency, the men -who, if they could not found a new nation, must perish; he was looking -at the men from sleepy little country villages in the old land, men -who had been left behind in the race. And so we meant exactly the same -thing, though we expressed it in apparently opposing terms. These -people are serfs, struggling from dawn to dark for enough to fill their -stomachs, toiling along a well-worn road, without originality, bound to -the past, with all the go and initiative crushed out of them. As their -fathers went so must they go, the evils that their fathers suffered must -they suffer, and the struggle for a bare existence is so cruelly hard, -that they have no hope of improving themselves. - -It was all interesting, wonderful, but I do not think ever in the world -have I felt so lonely. I longed with an intense longing to see someone -of my own colour, to speak with someone in my own tongue. - -I don't know that I was exactly afraid, and yet sometimes when I -saw things that I did not understand, I wondered what I should do if -anything did happen. Considering the way some people had talked in -Peking, it would have been a little surprising if I had not. Once we -came upon a place where the side of the road was marked with crosses in -whitewash and I wondered. I remembered the stories I had heard of -the last anti-Christian outbreak, and I wondered if those crosses had -anything to do with another. It all sounds very foolish now, but I -remember as cross after cross came into view I was afraid, and at last I -called Tuan and asked him what they meant. - -“Some man,” said he, “give monies mend road, {243}puttee white so can -see where mend it.” And that was all! But what that road was like before -it was mended I cannot imagine! - -At last, after a wearying day's journey of one hundred and twenty li, -or forty miles, over the roughest roads in the world, we came in the -evening sunlight upon a long line of grunting, ragged camels just -outside a great square gate enclosed in heavy masonry, and we were at Pa -Kou, as it is spelt by the wisdom of those who have spelled Chinese, but -it is pronounced Ba Go. It is a city or rather a long street, twenty -li or nearly seven miles long, and the houses were packed as closely -together in that street as they are in London itself. The worst of the -journey, Tuan told me, was over. There was another range of mountains to -cross, we had been going north, now we were to go west, it would take us -two days and we would be in Jehol. - -And here, for the first time, the authorities took notice of me. The -first inn we stopped at was dirty, and Tuan went on a tour of inspection -to see if he could not find one more to his Missie's liking, and I sat -in my cart and watched the crowded throng, and thought that never in my -life had I been so tired--I ached in every limb. If the finding of an -inn had depended on me I should simply have gone to sleep where I was. -At last it was decided there was none better, and into the crowded and -dirty yard we went, and I, as soon as my bed was put up, had my bath and -got into it, as the only clean place there was, besides I was too tired -to eat, and I thought I might as well rest. - -But I had been seen sitting in the street, and the Tutuh of the -town, the Chief Magistrate, sent his {244}secretary to call upon the -“distinguished traveller” and to ask if she, Tuan, who never could -manage the pronouns, reported it as “he,” had a passport. The -“distinguished traveller” apologised for being in bed and unable to see -the great man's secretary, and sent her servant--I noticed he put on his -best clothes, so I suppose he posed as an interpreter--to show she had -a passport all in order. He came back looking very grave and very -important. - -“She say must take care, plenty robber, must have soldier.” - -Here was a dilemma. I had heard so much about the robbers of China, -and the robbers of China are by no means pleasant gentlemen to meet. A -robber band is not an uncommon thing, but is more dangerous probably, to -the people of the land than to the foreigner, for here in the north -the lesson of 1900 has been well rubbed in. It is a dangerous thing to -tackle a foreigner. Dire is the vengeance that is exacted for his life. -Still I wasn't quite comfortable in my own mind. I thought of the mighty -robber White Wolf, who ravaged Honan, of whom even the missionaries and -the British American Tobacco Company are afraid. On one occasion two -missionaries were hunted by his band and driven so close that, as they -lay hidden under a pile of straw, a pursuer stood on the shoulder of -one of them. He lay hardly daring to breathe and the robber moved away -without discovering their hiding-place. Afterwards, however, they did -fall into the hands of White Wolf, who, contrary to their expectations, -courteously fed them and set them on their way. Of course, they had -nothing of which to be despoiled, and it was their good-fortune to fall -into {245}the hands of the leader himself, who knows a little of the -world, and something of the danger of attacking a foreigner. The danger -had been that they might fall into the hands of his men, his ignorant -followers, who, in their zeal, would probably kill them, perhaps with -torture, and report to the chief later on. This happened after I had -been to Jehol, but, of course, I had heard of White Wolf. I knew his -country was farther to the south in the more disturbed zone, and I did -not expect to meet robbers here. Still I had the Tutuh's word for it -that here they were. - -If you are going to have any anxiety in the future, I have come to the -conclusion it is just as well to be dead tired. I couldn't do anything, -and I was utterly tired out. I had been in the open air all day since -five o'clock in the morning, I was safe, in all probability, for the -night, and robbers or no robbers, I felt I might as well have a sound -night's rest and see what the situation looked like in the morning. I -heard afterwards there were missionaries in the town, and had I known -it, I might have sought them out and taken counsel with men of my own -colour, but I did not know it. - -“Must have soldier,” repeated Tuan emphatically, standing beside my camp -bed. “How many soldier Missie want?” - -I had heard too many stories of Chinese soldiers to put much reliance on -them as protectors. I didn't know offhand how many I wanted. I was by no -means sure that I wouldn't be just as safe with the robbers. One thing -was certain, I couldn't go back within two days of my destination, -besides for all I knew, the robbers were behind me. - -I put it to Tuan. {246}“Suppose I have no passport, what the Tutuh do -then?” - -“Then,” said my henchman emphatically, “he no care robber get Missie.” - -Evidently the Tutuh meant well by me, so I said they might send a -soldier for me to look at, at six o'clock next morning and then I would -decide how many I would have, and feeling that at least I had eleven -hours respite, I turned over and went to sleep. - -Punctually the soldier turned up. He was a good-tempered little man, all -in blue a little darker than the ordinary coolie wears, over it he had -a red sleeveless jacket marked with great black Chinese characters, back -and front, a mob cap of blue was upon his head, over his eyes a paper -lampshade; he had a nice little sturdy pony, and, for all arms, a fly -whisk! - -I didn't feel I could really be afraid of him, and I strongly suspected -the robbers would thoroughly agree with me. - -“What's he for?” I asked Tuan. - -That worthy looked very grave. “Must take care,” he replied with due -deliberation. “Plenty robber. She drive away robber. How many soldier -Missie have?” - -Well there was nothing for it but to face the danger, if danger there -was. I don't know now if there was any. It is so difficult to believe -that any unpleasant thing will happen to one. Again I reflected that -there is no danger in China till the danger actually arrives, and then -it is too late. What my guardian was to drive away robbers with I am -sure I don't know, for I cannot see that the fly whisk would have been -very effective. The “cartee men” were perfectly willing to go on, so I -said I thought this warrior would be amply sufficient for all purposes, -and we started. - -[Illustration: 0352] - -Everybody in Pa Kou keeps a lark, I should think, and every one of those -larks were singing joyously as we left the town. Never have I heard such -a chorus of bird song, and the morning was delightful. My guardian -rode ahead, and for three hours as we jolted over the track, I kept -a look-out for robbers, wondered what they would be like, and what -I should do when we met, but the only things I saw were bundles -of brushwood for the kitchen fires of Pa Kou, apparently walking -thitherward on four donkey legs. They reassured me, those bundles of -brushwood, they had such a peaceful look. Somehow I didn't think we were -going to meet any robbers. - -Evidently Tuan and the “cartee men” came to the same conclusion, for, at -the end of three hours, they came and said the soldier must be changed, -did Missie want another? Missie thought she didn't, and the guard was -dismissed, his services being valued at twenty cents. It was plenty, for -he came, with beaming face, and bowed his thanks. - -That was the only time I had anything to do with soldiers on the -journey, and I forgot all about him, hieroglyphics, lampshade, fly -whisk, and all, till I found entered in the accounts, Tuan was a learned -clerk and kept accounts: “Cavalry, twenty cents.” - -Then I felt I had had more than my money's worth. - -The last night of my journey I spent at Liu Kou, the sixth valley, and -the next morning the men made {248}tremendous efforts to hide all -trace of the disaster that had befallen us on the way. I said it didn't -matter, it could wait till we got to Jehol, but both Tuan and the -“cartee men” were of a different opinion. Apparently they would lose -face if they came to their journey's end in such a condition, and I -had to wait while the cloth was taken off the back of the cart, -and carefully put on in front, so that the broken wood was entirely -concealed. Then, when everybody was satisfied that we were making at -least a presentable appearance, we started. You see, I never appreciated -the situation properly. To travel in a cart seemed to me so humble a -mode of progression, that it really did not matter very much whether it -were broken or not, indeed a broken cart seemed more to me like going -the whole hog, and roughing it thoroughly while we were about it. But -with the men it was different, a cart was a most dignified mode of -conveyance, and to enter a big town in a broken one was as bad as -travelling in a motor with all the evidences of a breakdown upon it, due -to careless driving. And when I saw their point of view, of course I -at once sat down on some steps and watched an old man draw water, and a -disgusting-looking sow, who made me forswear bacon, attend to the wants -of her numerous black progeny. - -Tuan passed the time by having a heated argument with the landlord. The -fight waxed furious, as I was afterwards told, regarding the hot water I -had required for my bath, which was heated in a long pipe, like a copper -drain-pipe, that was inserted in a hole by the k'ang fire. Fuel is -scarce, and stern necessity has seen to it that these people get the -{249}most they possibly can out of a fire. I hope Than paid him fairly, -but of course I do not know, I parted with a dollar for the night's -lodging and the little drop of hot water, for otherwise we carried our -own fuel--charcoal--bought our provisions and cooked for ourselves, but -we left that landlord protesting at the gate that he would never put up -another foreigner. - -That last day's journey was, I think, the hardest day of all, or perhaps -it was that I was tired out. There was a long, long mountain to be got -over, the Hung Shih La, the Red Stone Rock, and we crossed it by a pass, -the worst of many mountain passes we had come across. We climbed up -slowly to the top and there was a tablet to the memory of the man who -had repaired the road. What it was like before it was repaired I can't -imagine, or perhaps it was not done very recently, say within a couple -of hundred years, for the road was very bad. There is only room for one -vehicle, and the carters raised their voices in a loud singsong, to warn -all whom it might concern that they were occupying the road. What would -happen if one cart entered at one end and another at the other I am sure -I cannot imagine, for there seemed to be no place that I could see where -they could pass each other, and I think it must be at least three steep -miles long. I did not trust the carts. I walked. My faith in a Peking -cart and mule had gone for ever, and if we had started to roll here, -it seemed to me, we should not have stopped till we reached America or -Siberia at least. So every step of the way I walked, and Tuan would have -insisted that the carts come behind me. But here I put my foot down, -etiquette or no etiquette I insisted they should go in front. I felt -{250}it would be just as bad to be crushed by a falling cart as to be -upset in it, so they went on ahead, and when we met people, and we met -a good many on foot, Tuan called out to them and probably explained that -such was the foolish eccentricity of his Missie that, though she was -rich beyond the dreams of avarice, and always travelled with two carts, -she yet insisted upon walking down all the passes. - -It was worth it too, for the view was glorious, the sunlight, the golden -sunlight of a Chinese afternoon, fell on range after range of softly -rounded hills, the air was so clear that miles and miles away I could -see their folds, with here and there a purple shadow, and here and there -the golden light. And over all was the arc of the blue sky. Beautiful, -most beautiful it was, and I was only regretful that, like so many of -the beautiful things I have seen in life, I looked on it alone. I shall -never look on it again. The journey is too arduous, too difficult, but I -am glad, very glad indeed, that I have seen it once. - -But it was getting late. At the bottom of the pass I got into my cart, -and was driven along a disused mountain torrent that occupied the bed -of the valley under a line of trees just bursting into leaf. The shadows -were long with the coming night, and at last we forded a shallow river -and came into the dusty, dirty town of Cheng Teh Fu, an unwalled town -beyond which is Jehol, the Hunting Palace of the Manchu Emperors. - -Here there were thousands of soldiers, not like my “cavalry,” but -modern, khaki-clad men like those in Peking, gathered together to -go against the Mongols, for China was at war, and apparently was -{251}getting the worst of it, and the air was ringing with bugle calls. - -And then Tuan and I had an argument. He wanted me to go to an inn. The -streets were dusty, dirty, evil-smelling, I was weary to death, my dress -had been rubbed into holes by the jolting of the cart, and my flesh -rebelled at the very thought of a Chinese inn. But what was I to do? -There were no Europeans in Jehol save the missionaries, and I was so -very sure it was wasted labour to try and convert the Chinese it seemed -unfair to go to the mission station. - -And then I suddenly felt I must speak to someone, must hear my own -tongue again, must be sympathised with, by a woman if possible, and in -spite of the protests of Tuan who saw all chance of squeeze at an end, I -made them turn the mules' heads to the mission. - -There a sad, sweet-faced woman gave me, a total stranger, the kindest -and warmest of welcomes, and I paid off the “cartee men.” For sixty -dollars they had brought me two hundred and eighty miles, mostly across -the mountains, they had been honest, hard-working, attentive, patient, -and good-tempered, and for a _cumshaw_ of five dollars they bowed -themselves to the ground. I know they got it, because I took the -precaution to pay them myself, and as I watched them go away down -the street I made a solemn vow that never again would I travel in the -mountains, and never, never again would I submit myself to the tender -mercies of a Peking cart. It is one of the things I am glad I have done, -but I am glad also it is behind me with no necessity to do again. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV--TO THE GREEKS, FOOLISHNESS - -{252} - -_Missionary compound--Prayer--Reputed dangers of the way--The German -girl--Midwife--The Bible as a guide--“My yoke is easy, My burden -is light”--A harem--Helping the sick and afflicted--A case of -hysteria--Drastic remedies--Ensuring a livelihood--“Strike, -strike”--Barbaric war-song--The Chinese soldier--The martyrdom of the -Roman Catholic priest._ - -|And with my entrance into that missionary compound I entered a world as -strange to me as the Eastern world I had come across two continents to -see. - -The compound is right in the heart of the town, and was originally -a Chinese inn, built, in spite of the rigour of the climate, Chinese -fashion, so that to go from one room to the other it was necessary to go -out of doors. The walls looking on to the street were blank, except in -the room I occupied, where was a small window, so high up I could not -see out of it. How it must be to pass from one room to the other when -the bitter winter of Northern China holds the mountains in its grip, I -do not know. - -I walked in out of the unknown and there came forward to meet me that -sad-looking woman with the soft brown eyes and bright red lips. Take -me in, yes, indeed she would take me in. I was dusty, I was torn, and -I think I was more weary than I {253}have ever been in my life, and she -made me welcome, made me lie down in a long chair, and had tea brought -in. A tall buxom German girl entered, and then to my surprise, and not -a little to my discomfort, my hostess bowed her head, and thanked God -openly that I had come through the dangers of the way, and been brought -safely to their compound! For a moment it took my breath away, and so -self-conscious was I, that I did not know which way to look. My father -was a pillar of the Church of England, Chancellor of the Diocese in -which we lived, and I had been brought up straitly in the fold, among -a people who, possibly, felt deeply on occasion, but who never, never -would have dreamt of applying religion personally and openly to each -other. Frankly I felt very uncomfortable after I had been prayed over, -and it seemed a sort of bathos to go on calmly drinking tea and eating -bread and jam. The German girl had just arrived, and they heard that the -day after she had left Peking, the German Consul had sent round to the -mission station, where she had been staying, to cancel her passport, and -to say that on no account must she go to Jehol as the country was too -disturbed. However she and her escort, one of the missionaries, had come -through quite safely, and the Tartar General in charge here had said she -might stay so long as she did not go outside the boundaries of the town. -But naturally, they were much surprised to see me, a woman and alone. - -I looked round the room, the general sitting-room, a bare stone-floored -room, with a mat or two upon it, a little cane furniture, a photograph -or two, and some texts upon the walls, a harmonium, a {254}couple of -tables, and a book-case containing some very old-fashioned books, mostly -of a religious tendency, and some stories by A.L.O.E. There was a time -when I thought A.L.O.E's stories wonderful, and so I read one or two of -them while I was here, and wondered what it was that had charmed me when -I was eleven. - -The only other woman in that compound, beside my hostess, was the German -girl who had come out to help. - -“I gave myself to the Lord for China,” she said, and she spoke simply -and quietly, as if she were saying the most natural thing in the world, -as if there could be no doubt of the value of the gift--truly it was -her all, she could not give more. And the Chinese did need her, I -think--that is only my opinion--but not exactly in the way she counted -most important. She had taken the precaution to become a midwife, and -indeed she must be a godsend, for Chinese practices are crude and cruel -in the extreme. It is the child that counts, the mother, even in her -hour of travail, must literally make no moan. A woman once told me how -she went to see her amah, who was expecting a baby, and she was asked to -wait. She waited about an hour, for she was anxious about the woman, and -the room was very still, there was no sound till the silence was broken -by the first cry of the new-born infant. The child had been born behind -the screen while she waited, and an hour later, to her horror, the -white-faced young mother was up and preparing to cook the family evening -meal. The woman would not have cried out for the world. No Chinese woman -would. If poor human flesh is weak, and a {255}sigh of pain escape her, -her mother-in-law will cover her mouth with her hand, but mostly the -woman will gag herself with her long black hair, she will not disgrace -herself by a cry as long as her senses are with her. It is all very well -to say the Chinese do not suffer as white women suffer. They are not -like the sturdy negro women who have lived a primitive, open-air life, -walk like queens, and have exercised every muscle. They are the crippled -products of an effete civilisation, who spend long hours on the k'ang, -and go as little as possible from their own compound. To those women -that German girl will be a blessing untold. I think of their bodies -while she labours for their souls. Anyway she is surely sent by God. - -There were two men here to make up the complement, one was my -missionary's husband, a man who takes the Bible for his guide in -everything, the Bible as it is translated into the English tongue. He -does not read primarily for the beauty of the language, for the rhythm, -for the poetry, for the Eastern glamour that is over all. He reads -it, he would tell you himself, for the truth. It is to him the most -important thing in the world; he quotes it, he lives by it, it is never -out of his thoughts, he might be a Covenanter of old Puritan days. And -the fourth missionary is a man of the world. I don't think he realises -it himself, but he is. He had lived there many years, had married a -wife and brought up children there, and now had sent them home to be -educated, and he himself talked, not of the Bible, though I doubt not -he is just as keen as the other, but of the people, and their manner -of life, and their customs, of the country, and of the strangers he had -{256}met, the changes he had seen, and, when I questioned him, of the -escape of himself and his family from the Boxers. - -For the souls and bodies of these wretched, miserable, uncomprehending -Chinese, who very likely, at the bottom of their hearts, pity the -strangers because they were not born in the Flowery Land, these devoted -people work--work and pray--day and night. The result is not great. - -“They will not hear the truth. Their eyes are blind. They worship -idols,” they told me of the majority. But they give kindliness, and in -all probability, for it is seldom that faithful, honest kindliness fails -in its purpose, they make a greater impression than they or I realise. - -True they believe firmly in the old Hebrew idea of a “jealous God,” but -they themselves are more tender than the God they preach. For all of -them, it seemed to me, life is hard, unless they have greater joy in the -service than I, “a Greek” could understand, but for the older woman it -must be hardest of all. - -“My yoke is easy, My burden is light,” said the Master she followed, but -the burden of this woman, away up in the mountains of Northern China, is -by no means light. The community is so small, they do not belong to the -China Inland Mission but call themselves “The Brethren,” the nearest -white man is two days away hard travelling across the mountains, so that -perforce the life is lonely. Day in and day out they must live here for -seven years among an alien people; a people who come to them for aid and -yet despise them. And because they would put no more stumbling-blocks -in the way of {257}bringing the Chinese to listen to the message they -bring, these missionaries conform, as much as they can, to Chinese -custom. Very seldom does this woman walk abroad with her husband--it -would not be the thing--women and men do not walk together in China. -If she goes outside the missionary compound she must be accompanied -by another woman, and she puts on some loose coat, because the Chinese -would be shocked at any suggestion of the outline of a figure. Also she -looks neither to the right nor the left, and does not appear to notice -anything, because a well-behaved woman in China never looks about -her. She considers, too, very carefully her goings, she would not -walk through the town at the hour when the men are going about their -business, the hour that I found the most interesting, and invariably -chose, no boy may bring her tea to her bedroom--it would not be -right--and she has none of the arrogance of the higher race who think -what they do must be right and expect the natives of the land to fall -into line. No, she conforms, always conforms to the uncomfortable -customs of the Chinese, and when any man above the rank of the poorest -comes to call upon her husband, she and the girl are hustled out of the -way and are as invisible as if he kept a harem. It often occurred to -me that the Chinese thought he did. Even in the church the women are -screened off from the men, and if a man adheres to the customs of the -country so closely in everything they can see, it is natural to suppose -they will give him credit for adhering to them in all things. But they -must think, at least, he has selected his womenkind with a view to their -welfare, for the older woman has had {258}a little medical training, and -simple cases of sickness she can deal with, while the German girl, as -I have said, is a certified midwife. The other man too, though not a -doctor, has some little knowledge of the more simple eye diseases. - -And they are grateful, the poor Chinese, for the sympathy they get from -these kindly missionaries, who openly say they tend their poor bodies -because they feel that so only can they get at their souls. They come to -the little dispensary in crowds, come twenty miles over the mountains, -and they bring there the diseases of a slum people, coughs and colds, -pleurisy and pneumonia, internal complaints and the diseases of -filth--here in the clean mountains--itch and the like. Many have bad -eyes, many granulated lids, and there is many a case of hideous goitre. -While I was there a man, old and poor, tramped one hundred miles across -the mountains; he was blind, with frightfully granulated lids, and he -had heard of the skill of the missionaries. There are also well-to-do -people here, who sometimes seek aid from them, though as a rule, it is -the lower class they come in contact with. - -But the ailments of the rich are different, I remember my missionary -woman was called in to see a girl about twenty, the daughter of a -high-class Manchu. The girl had hiccough. It came on regularly about -four o'clock every afternoon, and continued, if I remember rightly, -three or four hours. She was well and strong, she had everything the -heart of a Chinese woman could desire, she was never required to do one -stroke of work, but she was not married. The Manchus have fallen on evil -times and find some difficulty in marrying their {259}daughters. So this -girl, the daughter of well-to-do people, was necessary to no one, not -even to herself, and the missionary, finding she spent the greater -part of her time lying idly upon the k'ang, diagnosed hysteria, and -prescribed a good brisk walk every day. The proud Manchu, who was her -mother, looked at the woman she had called in to help her, scornfully. - -“My daughter,” she said drawing herself up to her full height, and the -Manchus are tall women, “cannot walk in the street. It would not be -seemly.” - -The missionary looked at her a little troubled. - -“At least,” she said, “she can walk in the courtyard and play with her -brother's children.” - -But the girl looked at her with weary eyes. There was no excitement in -playing with her brother's, children, and she could not see the good to -be got out of walking aimlessly round the courtyard. Poor Manchu maid! -What had she expected? - -“If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have -done it?” - -“I could do no good,” said the missionary sorrowfully, “and they would -not listen to my message.” - -The Chinese have their own remedies for many diseases, and some of them -the missionaries told me were good, but many were too drastic, and many -were wickedly dangerous. When an eye is red and bloodshot for instance, -they will break a piece of crockery and pierce the eye with it, and in -all probability the unfortunate loses his sight. No wonder they come -miles and miles, however rough the way, to submit themselves to gentler -treatment. I have known even women with bound feet toil twenty miles -{260}to see them about some ailment. Of course their feet are not as -badly bound as some, for there are many women in China who cannot walk -at all. I talked with a man once who told me he had just been called -upon to congratulate a man because he had married a wife who could not -get across the room by herself. She, naturally, was a lady with slaves -to wait upon her. These Chinese women of the mountains of the poorer -classes--the Manchus do not bind their feet--must be able to move about -a little, for there is a certain amount of work they must do. - -“A hundred thousand medical missionaries,” said this man, “are wanted in -China, for the teeming population suffers from its ignorance, it suffers -because it is packed so tightly together; the women suffer from the -custom that presses so heavily, and it suffers from its own dirt.” - -Up here at Jehol the suffering is apparently as bad as anywhere, and -the dispensary is full with all the minor ailments that come within the -range of the missionaries' simple skill, and all the cruel diseases that -are quite beyond them, that they cannot touch, and they do their best -in all pity and love, and yet think that they are doing a greater thing -than binding up a man's wounds when they can induce him to come to their -prayer-meetings, which go along, side by side, with the dispensary. - -I, a heathen and a “Greek,” question whether the Chinese ever receives -Christianity. A Chinese gentleman, a graduate of Cambridge, once told me -he did not think he ever did. - -“But the Chinaman,” said he, he actually used the contemned word, “is -a practical man, he receives all faiths. Some may be right, and when -he thinks {261}he is dying, he will send for a priest of every faith he -knows of to help him across the dark river. Who knows, some of them may -chance to be right,” and he laughed. He himself was of the faith so many -of us of this modern world have attained to, seeing the good in so many -faiths, seeing the beauty and the pity of them and standing aside and -crying: “Why all this? Whither are we bound? What can it matter whether -this poor coolie believes in Christ, or Buddha, or the cold ethics of -Confucius?” I said this to my missionary woman one day and she looked at -me with horror in her eyes. - -“There will be a reaping some day,” she said. “Where will you be then?” - -“Surely I cannot be blamed for using the reasoning powers God has -given.” But I am sure she thought my reasoning powers came from the -devil, and if I hadn't been getting used to it I should have been made -uncomfortable by being prayed for as one in outer darkness. - -It is the worship of the ancestors that holds the Chinese, the man -who gives up that, gives up all family ties and becomes practically an -outcast. There may be a few genuine Christians, but in proportion to the -money spent upon their conversion, their number must be very small. I -saw the colporteur come into the compound one day, and they told me he -was an earnest Christian. He might be, but again that doubt arose in my -mind. If the receiving of Christianity ensures a livelihood, could you -expect one of a nation, who will be made a eunuch for the same reason, -to reject it. - -The missionaries had a hard time when first they came here. The place -is inhabited by Manchus, {262}full of the pride of race, and they do not -want the outsider. They use them, as they have effected a settlement, -but they do not approve of their being there. - -As I and my saintly missionary walked down the street, she carefully -avoiding a glance either to the right or the left, a little half-naked -child at his mother's side looked at her and cried aloud: - -“Ta, ta,” and he said it vehemently again and again. - -She stopped, spoke to the mother, and evidently remonstrated, and -the woman laughed and passed along on her high Manchu shoes without -correcting the child. - -She looked troubled. “What did he say?” I asked. - -“Strike, strike! or some people might say 'kill, kill!' I said to the -woman: 'What bad manners is this?'” - -And the woman had only laughed! After all her kindness and tenderness, -all her consideration and care; I should have thought the very children -would have worshipped the ground she walked upon. - -They are holding their own, they say. In the compound are a couple of -Chinese women, the wives of their teachers or servants, and they have -had to unbind their feet, a process almost as painful as the binding. -One old woman could not unbind hers, they told me, because so long had -they been bound the feet split when she attempted to walk upon them -unbound, but so true a Christian is she, she puts her tiny feet inside -big shoes. But to balance her, their amah, a Manchu, is still a heathen. -After the years, the years they had been striving there, they could not -find one who has embraced their faith to wait upon them. - -[Illustration: 0370] - -In truth it was a hard faith, morning, noon, and night, they prayed, -morning, noon, and night, it seemed to me from the little meeting-house -went up the sound of hymns and prayers, not even in Christian England, -England that has held the faith for over a thousand years would so many -services have been attended, could they expect it of the Chinese? - -In the evening, when the night fell, we sat in the compound and talked, -I, who was cold and reasonable, and they who were enthusiasts, for to -them had come the call, that mysterious crying for the unknown that -comes to all peoples and all classes, and is called by such different -names. - -“I have given myself to the Lord for China.” And outside the house -the watchman beat his gong, not to frighten off thieves, as I at first -thought, but to keep away the devils who help the “stealer man,” for he -cannot alone carry out his nefarious designs, the _wonks_, the scavenger -dogs made the night hideous by their howling, and the soldiers, of whom -the town was full, sang their new war-song--wild and barbaric. - -“I do not like it,” said she of the sad eyes and red lips, “I do not -like it. It does not sound true.” - -And I, who had not got to live there, did not like it either, but it was -because it did sound to me true--it sounded fierce and merciless. What -might not men, who sang like that, do? - -“The Chinese soldier is a baby,” said a Chinese {264}to me, but that is -when he is among his own particular people at home. - -“Chinese soldiers,” said another man, a foreigner, “are always robbers -and banditti.” - -And there is truth in that last statement, possibly there is truth -in both, for children, unguided and unbridled, with the strength and -passions of men, are dangerous to let loose upon a community. - -We are beginning to look upon China as a land at peace. We talk about -her “bloodless revolution,” yet even as I write these words I see, -sitting opposite to me, my friend who was one of the rescue-party, -the gallant nine, who rode post-haste to Hsi An Fu to rescue the -missionaries cut off by the tide of the revolution, and I know the peace -of China is not as the peace of a Western land. - -Hsi An Fu is situated in Shensi, roughly, about a fortnight's journey -from the nearest railway, with walls that rival those of Peking, and -like Peking, with a Manchu City walled off inside those walls. There on -the 22nd October, 1911, the Revolutionaries, the apostles of progress, -shut fast the gates of the inner city and butchered the Manchus within -the walls. From house to house they went, and slew them all, old women -on the brink of the grave and the tiny infant smiling in its mother's -arms. Not one was spared. No cries for mercy were listened to. “Kill, -kill!” was the cry that bright autumn Sunday; men, women, and children -were slain, the streets ran with their blood, the reek of slaughter went -up to heaven, and the Manchus were exterminated. - -The movement was not anti-foreign, but the plight of the missionaries -well illustrates the danger every {265}foreigner faces in China. The -bulk of the people are peaceful. Nowhere in the world, I suppose, is a -more peaceful person to be found than the average Chinese peasant. He -asks only to be let alone, but, unfortunately, he is not let alone. -His rulers “squeeze” and oppress him, bands of robbers take toll of his -pittance, and when an unpaid soldiery is let loose upon him, his plight -is pitiable. It is certainly understandable, if not pardonable, that he -in his turn, takes to pillage, and pillage leads to murder. He is only -a puppet in the hands of others. One man alone may be kindly enough but -the man who is one of a mob, is swayed by the passions of that mob, or -the passions of its leader. So it was at Hsi An Fu. Party feeling ran -high. There were really three parties, the Manchus, the Revolutionaries, -and the Secret Society, the Elder Brother Society, who are always -anti-foreign and who, here in Hsi An Fu, for whatever purpose they might -originally have banded themselves together, were virtually a band of -robbers, mainly intent on filling their own pockets. The Revolutionaries -declared that the foreigners should be protected, but--and again the -menace of China to the white man is felt--in the rush and tumult of the -battle, many of their followers did not realise this. This was the time -to wreak private vengeance, and it was fiercely taken advantage of. -When thousands of helpless people, closer akin to the slayers than the -foreigners, were being given pitilessly to the sword, who was likely to -take much account of a handful of missionaries. - -There was outside the city in the south suburb a small school for the -teaching of the Swedish missionaries' children, and the head of that -school had, {266}some little time before, had a camera stolen. He -reported it to the police, and being dissatisfied with the lax way the -man at the head of the district took the matter up, went to his superior -officer. Now in these disturbed times, the man who had “lost face” saw -his way to vengeance, and, being in sympathy with the Revolutionaries, -and knowing the exact hour of the outbreak, he ordered the villagers -round the south suburb, every family, to send at least one man to -help exterminate the foreigners. “It was an order,” and the villagers -responded. The school was the first place attacked, for not only did -this man seek vengeance, but the humble possessions of the missionaries -seemed to the poorer Chinese to be wealth well worth looting. Therefore -that Sunday at midnight a mob attacked the school premises. The -missionaries, Mr and Mrs Beckman and Mr Watne, the tutor, were helpless -before the crowd, and hid in a tool-house, but they were discovered and -ran out, making for a high wall that surrounded the compound. Mr Watne -got astride of this and handed over Mr Beckman's eldest daughter, a tall -girl of twelve, but, before he could get the other children, the crowd -rushed them, and he was tumbled over the wall, making his escape with -the girl to another village some way off while the mob swept over the -rest, scattering them far and wide. Mr Beckman, a particularly tall, -stalwart man, considerably over six feet high, had his youngest child, a -baby, in his arms, and the people gave way before him, closing in on -the unfortunates who were following. It is impossible for an outsider to -tell the tale of that massacre, for massacre it was, the people falling -upon and doing to death the unfortunate woman and the children who were -clustering round her. The darkness was filled with the fierce shouts of -the murderers, and every now and again they were broken in upon by the -terrified wail of a child butchered with none to help. - -“Ta, ta,” cried the people, and they struck mercilessly, with spades and -reaping hooks and knives, the weak and helpless, and dodged out of the -way of the great, strong man who could fight a little for his life and -the lives of those dear to him. - -The woman and the children were slain and at last he was hunted, with -the little girl still in his arms, into a deep pond of water outside the -suburb. The mite was only three years old, and the distracted father, -wild with anxiety for his wife and other children, had to soothe the -little one and exhort her to be quiet and not to cry, for the pursuers -were lighting fires round the pond to find them. They lighted three, and -the fires probably defeated their own end, for the fugitive managed -to keep out of the glare, and the leaping flames deepened the darkness -around. The baby sheltered in her father's arms, and in spite of the -cold, never even whimpered, and the water was so deep the mob dared -not venture in. Only a man of extraordinary height could have so saved -himself. Hour after hour of the bitter cold autumn night passed and the -mob dispersed a little. The lust for killing was not so great in -the keen Hours of the early morning. Then the first silver streaks, -heralding the rising of the moon, appeared in the eastern sky and the -distracted man made his way softly to a bank at one side, and reaching -up, again only a tall man could have done it, laid his little girl -there. But the child who had been so good in the icy water while she was -against his breast began to fret when the keen morning air blew through -her sodden clothes and she could not feel her father's arms round her, -and he had to take her back and soothe her. But at last he persuaded -her to lie still till he got softly out of the water, and crept round to -her. He was not followed, the pursuit was slackening more and more, -and, keeping in the shadows, he made his way to the missionaries in -the western suburb. He thought that all but he and his little girl -had perished, and sad to say they did not know of the two who were -sheltering in a village some miles away in the country. Here, nearly -twelve hours later, the pursuers sought them out and stoned them to -death. - -Meanwhile rumours of what was happening in the southern suburb reached -the missionaries in the eastern suburb, and they, taking counsel with -their native helpers, divided themselves into three parties, and set -out to take refuge in some more distant villages where the people were -reputed Christians. They had gone but a little way, when the carts of -two of the parties were overtaken by a mob, who handled them somewhat -roughly, took all their humble possessions, and drove them back. - -“Kill, kill!” cried the pointing people, as the little helpless company, -escorted by the shouting, threatening mob passed, and even those who did -not directly threaten, seemed to have no hope. - -“They go to their deaths,” they said, looking at them curiously as men -look upon other men about to die. - -The missionaries themselves had small hope of their lives. When they -reached the first mission-{269}house they were roughly thrust into a -room and there guarded, and they only wondered why death did not come -swiftly and cut short the agony of waiting. - -The third party that set out from that suburb consisted of the Rev. -Donald Smith, his wife, and some schoolgirls they were escorting back to -their homes, as he considered, in these troublous times, they would be -safer with their own people than in the mission school. They went due -east, and had not gone three miles when they were set upon. The girls -fled in all directions, but the attackers only molested the foreigner -and his wife. He endeavoured to defend her, but they beat him so -severely that both his arms were broken, and they were both left for -dead by the wayside. Here they were found by some friendly, kindly -villagers--the average Chinaman is kindly--who, when the roughs were -gone, came to their rescue, and took them back to the eastern suburb, -where the other missionaries had spent a terrible two hours, momentarily -expecting the mob to rush in and kill them. - -But the Chinese are a cautious people, curious in their respect for -precedent. What was to be done with these foreigners. Sometimes the -foreigners had been slain, but then again, quite as often, they had been -guarded and kept safely. There was no getting into the city. The gates -were fast locked and were kept shut for days, but someone--very probably -a well-wisher to the missionaries--went to the wall and shouted up to -know what was the order about foreigners? Were they to kill them or -were they to protect them? Back came the response, the order was, the -foreigners were to be protected, and when word of this was brought back -to the mission station, they were not only released, but the property -of which they had been robbed was returned to them. For those who had -looted kept it intact till they saw which way the wind blew. - -And by the time the city gates were opened and order was restored, -it was understood, by the proclamation of the New Republic, that all -foreigners were to be protected. - -But the case of the missionaries in Hsi An Fu graphically illustrates -the dangers every foreigner, missionary, or the missionary's _bête -noire_, the ubiquitous cigarette-selling British American Tobacco man, -runs in China, where the civilisation, the long-established civilisation -is that of Nineveh or Babylon, or ancient Egypt. Not that the foreigner -runs any greater risk than the native of the country, sometimes he runs -less, because, even into the far interior, a glimmering of the vengeance -the Christian nations take for their martyred brothers has penetrated; -but life in China is, as it was in Nineveh or Babylon, not nearly as -sacred as it is in the West. The life of a poor man, one of the luckless -proletariat, is of small account to anyone. A disbanded and unpaid -soldiery are for ever a menace, and the difference between the -disciplined soldier and the unlicensed bandit is very, very small. One -week a regiment of soldiers clamouring for their pay, the next a band of -robbers hiding in the hills, their methods ruthless, for their hand is -against every man's and every man's hand is against them. They live by -the sword, as they perish by the sword, and when the tide of lawlessness -reaches a certain height, white man and yellow alike suffer, but we -take count only of the sufferings of our own people. {271}Sitting in -the missionary compound up at Jehol in the evening, I thought of these -things and looked into the eyes that looked into mine, the kind, brown -eyes, and I wondered did she remember, did she think of them, too. I -looked again, and I knew she remembered, that ever with her was the -thought how cut off they were from the rest of the world, and I read -there, though she never murmured, fear. For Jehol has its traditions -of sacrifice and martyrdom too. Only six miles away at a village on -the Lanho, in the year of the Boxer trouble, they had slowly buried the -Catholic priest alive. All the long hot summer's day they had kept -him tied to a post, slowly, to prolong his agony, heaping up the earth -around him. The day was hot, and he begged for water as the long, weary, -hopeless hours dragged themselves away. And some of them had loved him. - -“You might,” said a man looking on, “give him a drink, even if you do -kill him.” - -And they turned on him even as men might have done in the days of the -Inquisition: - -“If you say any more, we will bury you beside him.” - -And so he died a cruel death, a martyr, for there was none to help, and -when the Western nations exacted retribution, they made the people put -up a cross, the symbol of his faith, over the grave. And then, because -they had been forced to do it, every villager who passed that monument -to show his contempt for the foreigner and all his works cast a stone, -till now shape and inscription have both gone, and the passer-by cannot -tell what is that rough rock, jagged and unshapely. - -Yet here among these selfsame people, four and a half days' hard journey -from Peking, far beyond all hope of help from the foreign soldiery, -dwell these Christian missionaries. “To the Greeks, foolishness.” But -could they better demonstrate the strength of their faith? - - - - -CHAPTER XV--A VISIT TO THE TARTAR GENERAL - -{273} - -_Hsiung Hsi Ling, Premier of China--Preparations for a call--A cart -of State--An elderly mule--Waiting in the gate--The yam en--Mr Wu, the -secretary--“Hallo, Missus!”--The power of a Chinese General--“Plenty -robber, too much war”--Ceremonial farewell--A cultivated gentleman--Back -to past ages for the night._ - -|Up in Jehol they called the General commanding the three thousand odd -troops the Tartar General, why I do not know, but it seems it is the -title by which he is commonly known among the country people. He was -Hsiung Hsi Ling, the man who is now Premier of China, and to him I -brought letters of introduction so that I might be admitted to the -Imperial Palace and Park and be treated as a person of consequence, -otherwise I imagine a foreigner and a woman at that would have but small -chance of respect in China. The Chinese letters lifted me to the rank of -the literati, which must have been rather surprising to the Chinese, and -these in English were such that I felt I must bear myself so as to live -up to them. - -The yamen was about five minutes' walk from the mission station, and -in my ignorance I had thought I would stroll up some morning when I -had recovered from the fatigues of the journey, but the missionaries, -{274}steeped in the lore of Chinese etiquette, declared such a -proceeding was not suitable. A person of consequence, such as my letters -proclaimed me, must bear herself more becomingly. - -“Write and ask if ten o'clock on Tuesday morning will be a suitable time -for you to call on the General, and send your letters by your servant. -I dare say there will be somebody who can read them, though I am sure -there will be nobody who can write an answer,” said the missionary. “The -General's English-speaking secretary is away.” - -Accordingly I sent off Tuan, who was more than sure that he was equal -to the task, and he returned without a letter, as the missionary had -prophesied, but saying: “She say all right.” - -“And now you must have a cart,” said that missionary who was more -worldly wise than I expected an enthusiast to be, “and don't get down -till the yamen gates are opened. It would never do to wait with the -servants in the gate.” - -How Eastern it sounded! And then his wife came and superintended my -toilet. The weather was warm, not to say hot, and I had thought a -black and white muslin a most fitting and suitable array. But she was -horrified at the effect. It was made in the mode of 1913, and did not -suggest, as the long Manchu robes do, that I was built like a pyramid, -broadest at the base. - -“Haven't you got a coat to put over you,” said she looking round, and -she seized my burberry which was the only thing in the shape of a wrap -I had with me. Chinese ideas of propriety evidently influenced her very -strongly. - -I declined to wear a burberry on a hot day late in {275}May, though all -the Chinese Empire were shocked and horrified at my impropriety, but I -sought round and found a lace veil which, draped over me, was a -little suggestive of a bridal festivity, but apparently satisfied all -conditions, and then I went out to mount into that abomination--a Peking -cart. The Peking cart that is used for visiting has a little trestle -carried over the back end of the shafts, which is taken down when the -occupant wishes to mount and dismount, so I got into the seat of honour, -the most uncomfortable seat well under the tilt, and Tuan, glorious in -a long black silk brocade robe, his queue newly oiled and plaited, and -a big straw hat upon his head, climbed on to the tail of the shaft, and -the carter, dressed in the ordinary blue of his class, with the ordinary -rag over his head to keep off the dust, walked beside the most venerable -white mule I have ever come across. I don't know whether aged animals -are held in respect in China, I'm afraid not. The poor old thing had -great deep hollows over his eyes. I suspect Tuan had got him cheap, -because the cart was respectable, and he had been good once--of course -he would never have let me lose face--and then he made me pay full -price, a whole fivepence I think it came to. - -“That's a very old mule, Tuan,” I said. - -“Yes,” he assented, “very old, she forty,” which was certainly more -than I had reckoned him. I afterwards came to the conclusion he meant -fourteen. - -What Tuan was there for, I certainly don't know, except to carry my -card-case, which I was perfectly capable of carrying myself. - -We went out into the dusty, mud-coloured street, and along between -mud-coloured walls of the dullest, most uninteresting description, and -presently we arrived at the yamen gates, and here it was evident that -Tuan, who had been so important all across the mountains, was now quite -out of his depth. - -“Cart no can go,” said he. “Missie get out.” - -I was prepared for that. “No,” I said very important for once in my -life, “I wait till someone comes.” - -The yamen entrance was divided into three, as all Chinese entrances -seem to be, and over it were curved tiled roofs with a little colouring, -faded and shabby, about them; all of it was badly in need of repair, -and on the fast-closed gates in the middle were representations of some -demon apparently in a fit, but his aspect was a little spoiled by the -want of a fresh coat of paint. The two little gates at either side were -open, and here clustered Chinese soldiers in khaki, and men in civilian -dress of blue cotton, and all stared at the foreign woman who was not -a missionary, in the cart; that is the rude ones stared, and the polite -ones looked uncomfortably out of the corners of their eyes. A Chinaman's -politeness in this respect always ends by making me uncomfortable. A -good, downright stare that says openly: “I am taking you in with all my -eyes,” I can stand, but the man who looks away and down and out of the -corners of his eyes gets on my nerves in no time. - -However, this time I had not long to wait. After a minute or two out -came a messenger, a Chinese of the better class, for he was dressed in -a bright blue silk coat and petticoats, with a black sleeveless jacket -over it, and the gates at his command, to my boy's immense astonishment, -opened, and my cart rumbled into the first courtyard. We went on into -a second--bare, ugly courtyards they were, without a flower or a tree or -any green thing to rest the eye upon--and then I got down as there came -to meet me a small bare-headed man without a queue, and his thick -black hair apparently cut with a saw and done with a fork. He wore an -ill-fitting suit of foreign clothes, and about his neck, instead of a -collar, one of those knitted wraps an Englishwoman puts inside her coat -when the weather is cold. On his feet were the white socks and heelless -slippers of the Chinese. Instead of the dignified greeting the first man -had given me he remarked genially, and offhandedly: “Hallo, Missus!” - and he did it with a certain confidence, as if he really would show the -numerous bystanders that he knew how to receive a lady. - -[Illustration: 0386] - -[Illustration: 0387] - -Through one shabby courtyard after another, all guarded by soldiers in -khaki, he led me to the presence of the Tartar General, Hsiung Hsi Ling, -the great man who had been Minister of Finance and who now held military -command over the whole of that part of China, independent even of the -Viceroy of the Province of Chihli. Those who told me made a great point -of that independence; but in China it seems that a General with troops -at his command always is independent, not only of the Viceroy of the -Province in which he is stationed, but of anyone else in authority. The -President himself would treat him with great respect so long as he had -troops at his back. He is, in fact, entirely independent. If the central -authorities give him money to pay his troops, well and good, he holds -himself at their command, if they do not, then he is quite likely -to sympathise with his men, and become not only a {278}danger to the -community among whom he is stationed, but to the Government as well. It -is hardly likely yet in China, that a General popular with his troops -can be degraded or dismissed. He can only be got rid of by offering him -something better. - -Here I found none of the pomp and magnificence I had expected to find -about an all-powerful Oriental. We went into a room floored with stone, -after the Chinese fashion, and furnished with a couple of chairs, and -through that into a plain, smallish room, with the usual window of -dainty lattice-work covered with white paper. All down the centre of it -ran a table like a great dining-table, covered, as if to emphasise -the likeness, with a white cloth. I felt as if I had come in at an -inopportune moment, before the table had been cleared away. Seated at -this table, with his back to the window, was the General. He rose as I -entered and came forward, kindly and considerately, to meet me--a man -of middle height, younger than I expected, for he hardly looked forty. -There was not a thread of white in his coal-black hair, but he had -some hair on his face--a moustache and the scanty beard that is all the -Chinese can produce--so he was evidently of ripe years, well past middle -age. He wore a uniform of khaki, as simple and devoid of ornament as -that of one of his own soldiers; his thick black hair was cut short and -he had a clever, kindly face. Though he could understand no English, he -looked at the foreign woman pleasantly, and as if he were glad to see -her. He went back to his chair, and I was seated at his right hand, -while his secretary, and very inadequate interpreter, sat on his left. -An attendant, looking like an ordinary coolie, brought in tea in three -cups with handles and saucers, foreign fashion, and the interview began. - -I have been told that a grave and unsmiling demeanour is the proper -thing to bring to a Chinese interview; and if so I failed lamentably -to come up to the correct standard. But since the interpreter knew even -less English than Tuan, whom I had left outside, there was really little -else to do but smile and look pleasant. My host certainly smiled many -times. I complimented him on the beauty of his country and then I asked -permission, that is to say his protection, to go on to Lamamiao, or as -it is called on the maps, Dolnor. Goodness knows why I asked. It would -have meant two or three weeks at least in that awful Peking cart, but I -appear to be so constituted that, when I am within range of a place, -it would seem like missing my opportunities not to try and get there. I -don't know what there is to see at Dolnor, but it is up on the Mongolian -plateau, and there is a big lamaserie there and a living Buddha, that -is an incarnation of the Buddha. The one who is there at present may be -very holy as to one part of him, but the earthly part requires plenty -of drink, I am told, and the caresses of many women to make this world -tolerable. However, I was not to see him. The General and his secretary -might not have understood much, but they did understand what I wanted -then, and they were emphatic that I could not go. The General looked at -his secretary and then at me, and explained at length, and he must have -thought that the English language was remarkable for its brevity, for I -was curtly informed: - -“No can go. Plenty robber. Too much war.” - -I had been threatened with robbers before, but not by an important -General, and this time I felt I had better take heed, besides there was -always the consolatory thought that, if I did not go, I need not ride -any more in a Peking cart. Then I asked permission to visit the Palace -and Park. - -“No can do one time,” said the interpreter. “How many day you want go?” - -Somehow, though I had come all this way to see it, I have a rooted -objection to sightseeing. To get a ticket to go into a place takes away -the charm; still as I was about it, I thought I would go as often as -I could, so I said I would like to go on five days. The missionaries, -though they had been here for six years, had never yet set foot inside -that Park; to go required a permit from the authorities, and it was -their idea to ask nothing from those authorities that they could -possibly avoid. They would certainly have thought it wicked to ask for -anything for their own pleasure. I did not suffer from any such ideas. -As the General was bent on being civil to me I thought I might as well -say I would like to take my friends in, and as we could not go without -proper attendants--I who come from a country where I have blacked my own -boots, cooked the family dinner, and ironed my husband's shirts many a -time--I asked for and got about thirty tickets. I've got some of them -still. Then I drank a cup of very excellent tea, and before five minutes -were up rose and made my adieux. Brevity, I had been instructed, was the -soul of courtesy in a Chinese interview. - -The Tartar General saw me through two doors, which I believe was a high -honour, and due to my having been introduced as a learned doctor. The -correct thing is to protest all the while and beg your host not to come -any farther, but I am really too Western in my ideas and it seems silly. -Either he wants to come, or he doesn't, in any case what does it matter, -and so I fear me, I was not vehement enough in my protestations of -unworthiness. The secretary conducted me to my cart, where a subdued -and awed servant awaited my arrival with a new and exalted idea of his -Missie's importance. Tuan had magnified my importance, I fancy, for his -own sake. He was serving a woman--yes, but she was a rich, generous, and -important woman, but he had never, at the bottom of his heart, really -dreamt that she could go through the yamen gate in a cart, that she -could sit down beside the Tartar General, that she could get many -tickets to go inside grounds forbidden to all the Chinese round about. -I have not the slightest doubt all the details of the interview reached -him before I came out, brief as my visit had been, and he helped me -into my cart with, I felt, more deference and less make-believe than was -usual. It made me smile a little to myself, but I think it was Tuan who -really got most satisfaction out of that visit, though he had not seen -the great man. - -[Illustration: 0393] - -I had been comparing China to Babylon. I came away from the General's -presence with the feeling that a Babylonish gentleman was truly -charming--just like a finished product of my own time. Probably he was. -But there were other sides to Babylon, as I was reminded that night. It -is well to know all sides. When I had said good night and gone to bed, -there burst on my ears a loud beating of gongs, and the weird war-song -I had found so {282}haunting the night before. The soldiers were -stimulating their courage for the fighting in Mongolia. I wonder if the -Babylonish soldiery sang so before they marched down upon Jerusalem. -Then there came the watchman's gong, and the howl of the _wonks_ that -prowled about the town. I was back in past ages, and as I lay there -in the darkness I wondered how I had ever had the temerity even to -contemplate a visit to Lamamiao, and whether I would ever have the -courage necessary to get back to Peking by myself. Luckily the fears of -the dark are generally dispersed by the morning sunlight. At least they -are with me, or I should never dare go travelling in remote places at -all. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI--A PLEASURE-GROUND OF THE MANCHUS - -{283} - -[Illustration: 0386] - -_A return call--Ceremonies--A dog-robbing suit--Difficulties of -conversation--A treat for the amah--The British Ambassador at Jehol in -the eighteenth century--The last stages of decrepitude--Glories of the -park--The bronze temple--A flippant young Chinese gentleman--“Ladies' -Temple”--Desolation and dirt and ruin--“Happiness Hall”--Examining a -barbarian._ - -|The next day the secretary returned my call, bringing with him the -General's card, and an apology for not coming himself. He was so very -busy. I never expected him to come, and don't suppose he ever really -intended to, but it was true Chinese politeness to put it that way. - -Mr Wu had sent to say he was coming to call upon me, and it surprised -me to see the commotion such a little thing occasioned in the mission -house. I felt they were really being awfully good to my guest, but, -without taking away one jot from their kindliness, I think, too, they -were very glad to be brought into friendly relations with the yamen, and -I was very glad indeed to think that I, who was in outer darkness from -their point of view, was able to do this little thing for them. Cakes -were made, the best tea got out, the table set, and the boy, who -generally waited upon us humbler folk in a little short jacket and -trousers caught in at the ankles, was put into the long coat, {284}or -petticoat, whichever you are pleased to call it, that a well-dressed -Chinese servant always wears. It seems it is not the correct thing for -him to wait upon one in a little short jacket. And then when all was -ready, and the small great man was announced, to my surprise the other -two women were hustled out of sight, and I and the missionary received -him alone. Why, I do not know even now. I sat on a high chair, and -so did Mr Wu, and the missionary gave us both tea and cakes, handing -everything with both hands; that I believe is the correct Chinese way -of doing honour to your guest. I received it as a matter of course, said -“Thank you,” or “Please don't bother,” whichever occurred to me, but -Mr Wu was loud in his protestations, in both Chinese and English, and -I fancy the whole interview--unless I spoiled it--was conducted in a -manner which reflected infinite credit upon the missionary's knowledge -of Chinese customs and the secretary's best manners. They certainly were -very elaborate. This day he had on what one of my naval brothers was -wont to designate a dog-robbing suit, though I don't know that he ever -went out dog-robbing, and I am quite sure the young Chinese gentleman -never did, also his hair was neatly parted in the middle and plastered -down on each side, and with a high collar and tie on, he looked really -as uncomfortable and _outré_ as it was possible to look. He had brought -me the tickets, and implored me if I wanted anything else to ask for it. -The interview was a trial to me. It is all very well to be prepared to -smile, but smiles don't really fill up more than a minute or two, and -what on earth to say during the rest of the time, troubled me. In all -the wide world, and I felt it acutely, we had absolutely nothing in -common save those tickets, and my heart sank when he told me he would do -himself the honour of showing me over the palace himself. If I felt -half an hour with him, for all my gratitude for his kindliness, an -intolerable burden, what on earth should I feel the livelong day. One -piece of news he did tell us, there had been fighting in Mongolia, -severe fighting, and many men had been killed, but when we came to -ask which side had won he said he did not know, and then of course we -guessed the Chinese had suffered a reverse, for if the telegraph could -tell any details at all, it was sure to have told the all-important one -which side was the conqueror. At last, when it seemed that hour had been -interminable, the young man rose, and the farewells began. - -[Illustration: 0399] - -Those Chinese farewells! Chinese etiquette is enough to cure the most -enthusiastic believer in form and ceremony, to reduce him to the belief -that a simple statement of fact, a “Yea, yea,” and “Nay, nay,” are amply -sufficient. I suppose all this form and ceremony, this useless form -and ceremony, comes from the over-civilisation of China. If ever in the -future I am inclined to cavil at abrupt modern manners, I shall think of -that young man protesting that the missionary must not come to the gate -with him, when all the while he knew he would have been deeply offended -if he had not. I fear lest I may now swing over to the other side and -say that a rude abruptness is a sign of life, so much better does it -seem to me than the long elaborate and meaningless politeness that -hampers one so much. - -When he had gone we discussed the question of a visit to the Imperial -Park, and then I found that {286}there were many things in the way of my -entertaining my hosts, prayer meetings, dispensary afternoons, visits, -and that in any case, only the women would accompany me, whether that -was really because the men were busy, or because it was not Chinese -etiquette for men and women to amuse themselves together I do not know, -but I strongly suspect the latter had something to do with it. For of -course what the foreigners did, more especially the new foreign woman, -who was not a missionary, was a matter of common talk in all the -district round. Then my hostess put it to me, as I had plenty of tickets -and to spare, would I take their amah. She was most anxious to go. She -had been in service with a Manchu family, and once when they were going -she had been ill, and once it had rained so that she had never gone, -and she was getting an old woman and feared her chances were dwindling -sadly. - -It was such a little thing to want, and yet I don't know. When I looked -at the hideous town, for Cheng Teh Fu remains in my mind as the ugliest -Chinese town I have ever seen it had not the charm and fascination that -walls give, when I thought of the delights that lay hidden behind the -fifteen miles of high wall that surround the Park, the delights that -are for so very, very few, I did not wonder that the Manchu woman, who -already counted herself old, she was forty-five, should have been -very anxious to go inside. And when I told her I would take her, she -immediately begged leave to go away and put on her best clothes. I -couldn't see any difference between her best clothes and her everyday -clothes, but I could see she had a small shaven grandchild in -attendance, who was immediately put on to carry my umbrella. I suppose -she hoped to smuggle him in to see the delights, and I said nothing, for -I had plenty of tickets. - -Curiously enough, while most of China has been a sealed book, the -Hunting Palace--it is really better described as a Lodge--of the Manchus -has been known to the English for one hundred and twenty years, for -it was here that, on the 9th September, 1793, the Emperor Ch'ien Lung -received Lord Macartney, the first British Ambassador to China. I did -not come straight from Peking, but I know that the road, by valley and -mountain pass, is reckoned very bad indeed, and very few people as -yet take the trouble to go to Jehol. It is four and a half days' hard -travelling now, but Lord Macartney took seven, and it is a curious -commentary upon the state of the roads in the British Isles in those -days that though his chronicler, Sir George Staunton, writing of -the journey, complains a little of the roads, and mentions that Lord -Macartney's carriage, which he had brought out from England with him, -had generally to be dragged along empty, while the “Embassador” himself -rode in a palankeen, he does not make much moan about them; no one -reading his account would think they were so appalling as they must have -been, for I cannot think they have deteriorated much since those days. -When I looked at the streets of Cheng Teh Fu, banks, dust heaps, great -holes, stones, I tried to imagine the British “Embassador's” coach being -dragged across them, twisting round corners, balancing on sidings, up -to the axles in dust, or perhaps mud, for it was September and the crowd -looking on at the lord from the far islands of the sea, who was bringing -tribute to the Emperor of China, {288}for I am afraid it is hardly -likely they believed he was doing anything else. - -Another thing Sir George Staunton notes is the scarcity of timber. “The -circumjacent hills,” he writes, “appeared to have been once well planted -with trees; but those few which remained were stunted, and timber has -become very scarce. No young plantations had been made to supply the old -ones cut down.” Now the hills round are absolutely bare, there is not -a sign that ever a tree has grown upon them, and I should not have -believed they had, had it not been for Sir George Staunton's account. - -And on the other side of this ugly town, among these desolate hills, is -set a wall, a wall about twenty feet high, with a broad pathway on the -top, along which the guards might walk. And the wall has been built with -discretion. Not only was it to keep out all but the elect, but it was -to block effectually all view of what went on inside. Not even from the -neighbouring hills is it possible to look into that Park. Its delights -were only for the Son of Heaven and those who ministered to his -well-being. - -We went along a sordid, dusty street to the principal gate, a shabby -and forlorn-looking gate, and the watch-tower over it was crumbling to -decay, and we entered the courtyard, a forlorn and desolate courtyard, -where the paving-stones were broken, and the grass and weeds were coming -up between the cracks. Then there was a long pathway with a broken -pavement in the middle, a pavement so characteristic of China that -wherever I chance to see such I shall think of her golden sunshine and -bright skies. On either side of that pathway were high walls over which -were peeping the tiled roofs of {289}buildings, until at last after -fully five minutes' walk, after passing through many gates, all in -various stages of decay, we came to a place where the path ended with -two doors to the right and left. This, the palace of an Emperor; it -seemed impossible to believe it. I wondered if the woman who had wanted -for so many years to see it was disappointed. She was supporting my -elbow, true Chinese fashion, and Tuan, having succeeded in passing on my -camera to the usual ragged follower, was on the other side, as if I were -in the last stages of decrepitude. At first this exceeding attention -used to irritate me, but by this time I had resigned myself to my fate. -I was more concerned at the shabbiness and sordidness of everything. Of -course no one save the servants, who keep the place, live in the grounds -now, no one has lived there for over fifty years, not since 1860, when -the reigning Emperor fled there from the Allies who sacked Peking, and -died there. Perhaps it was for that reason that his secondary wife, the -great Dowager-Empress whom all the world knew, disliked the place, and -went there no more. I remembered that, as I stood between those two -doors and wondered which I should go through first. The one to the -left led to some courtyards surrounded by low, one-storied -buildings--Emperor's first bedroom--said Tuan, and possibly he was -right. I turned to the door on the right and as it opened I knew that -these Manchu pleasure-grounds had been planned, as so many things -Chinese are planned, nobly. I stepped out on to a plateau and there, -there in this treeless China, was a grove of firs and pines. The blue -sky peeped through the branches, the sunshine dappled the ground with -shadow and light, and the wind {290}murmured softly among the evergreen -foliage. Here was coolness and delight. Beyond the plateau lay a long -grassy valley surrounded by softly rounded, tree-clad hills, and right -at the bottom of the valley was a lake with winding shores, a lake -covered with lotus lilies, with islands on it, with bridges and -buildings, picturesque as only the ideal Chinese buildings can be -picturesque. It may have been created by art, and at least art must have -entered to some great extent into the making of the beauty, but there -is no trace of it. My followers looked at the scene and looked at me, -as much as to say this was something belonging to them they were showing -me, and they hoped I was appreciating it properly. It might have been -the Manchu woman's very own. In truth I could only look and wonder, lost -in admiration. What could the heart of man want more for the glorious -summertime, the brief, hot summer of Northern China? - -[Illustration: 0405] - -The first glance was a surprise, and the farther I went in the more my -wonder grew. There were paved pathways, but they were not aggressively -paved, the rough grey stones had just been sunk in the grass. They -were broken a little now, and they toned naturally with the rural -surroundings. There were lovely bridges bridging ravines, and here, too, -was not one stone too many, nothing to suggest the artificial, that -so often spoils the rural scene made to conform to the wants of the -luxurious. Of course, besides the pavement, other things had fallen into -disrepair, there were steps down hill-sides that were well-nigh hopeless -for purposes of ascent and descent, and there were temples where indeed -the gods were forlorn and forgotten. Gigantic gods they were {291}with -fearsome faces and painted in gorgeous colours, but they were all dusty -and dirty. There was one temple all of bronze, but it was rusted -and shabby. There were shrines in it set with agate and jasper, -mother-of-pearl and jade, and what looked like great rubies, but, very -likely, were only garnets. Shabby, forlorn, forgotten was the temple, -the steps that led up to it were broken and almost unusable, the -courtyards were neglected, the tiles of the roof grass-grown, the -woodwork of the doors perished, the walls falling, but the situation on -the hill-side, embosomed in pines, with the beautiful lake at its feet -and the wide vista of hills beyond, was superb, eternal. - -On the day the missionaries arranged to come we made a picnic to this -temple, I, and the two missionary women and our attendants, my servant, -and their boy and the Manchu amah and all the heterogeneous! following -my boy always collected, and as we sat there at our open-air tiffin the -gates were pushed open and in came the little Chinese gentleman in his -badly fitting foreign clothes. - -“Hallo, Missus,” he said, and I forgot for a moment all the wonders that -his people had done, that were here before my eyes. - -He had come to fulfil his promise and show me round. - -He was a flippant young gentleman impatient of the past, just as I have -seen young men of his age, in Western lands. He was only a boy, after -all, and he threw stones at the birds just as a younger boy might have -done in England. Only I wished he wouldn't. It was nice to think the -birds had sanctuary here, but I suppose it was a way of letting off -steam, since he could not talk very easily to the {292}foreign woman. A -small red squirrel, sitting up deeply engaged with a nut from one of the -fir-trees, roused him to wild excitement, and he shouted and yelled to a -couple of dignified, petticoated Chinamen on the other side of the lake, -in a way that quite upset my ideas of Chinese propriety; in fact, he was -the General's secretary, showing off just as I have seen boys in other -lands show off. - -He took us to the women's temple, since we were interested in temples, -a temple away on the other side of the lake, down in a hollow of the -hills, hidden away as woman has been hidden away in China for immemorial -ages. - -“Ladies' temple,” said our cicerone with a wave of his hand. - -And it, too, is falling into decay, the dusty gods, ranged round -the sacred place, remind one of the contents of a lumber-room, and -“Forgotten, forgotten,” is written large all over it. The forlorn old -man in shabby blue, with a tiny little queue and a dirty face who -keeps it, looks as if he too had been forgotten, and was grateful for a -twenty-cent _cumshaw_. Only the courtyard with the soft breeze rustling -in the pine-trees and ringing the musical bells that hung from the eaves -was peaceful in the afternoon sunshine, with a charm of its own. - -What women have come and prayed here? The proud Manchu Empress whom her -lord had neglected, the Chinese concubine who longed to find favour in -his eyes? - -All over this pleasure-ground are buildings, but so deftly placed they -never for one moment interfere with the charm of the countryside. There -is a little temple on the Golden Mountain where the Jehol River takes -its rise in a spring; on another hill is a little look-out place or tea -pagoda with the roof covered with tiles of imperial yellow, and a view -from it that even an Emperor is lucky to command. At the end of a -long grassy glade where the deer were feeding in the shade of oaks and -willows was a tall pagoda, and the Emperor's library was in another -little valley, hidden away behind high walls. We entered through a -guard-house and came upon a small door in the high stone wall, and this -door on the inner side appeared to be blocked not only by the trunk of a -tree but by a huge rock. There was, however, just room for one person to -pass round, and then we entered a shaded rock garden, which is all round -the building that holds the library. The deep veranda was charming, on -the hottest day one might sit, cool and secluded, reading here, and on -each corner are exquisite bronze models of Chinese ponies. The library -itself, like most of these houses, was sealed up, and our young friend -had not the key, but the lattice-work windows, and most of the walls are -of lattice-work, for this is a summer palace, were down to the ground, -and through the torn paper I could get a glimpse of what looked like -another lumber-room, but that once must have been gorgeous with red -lacquer and gold. - -[Illustration: 0411] - -Always it was the same, desolation and dirt and ruin, and the young man -who was showing us everything made as if he wished to impress upon us -that it did not matter. He belonged to the modern world, and these were -past and gone. But when we admired and were charmed and delighted I saw -that he, too, was pleased. - -There were the Emperor's rooms opening into a courtyard close to the -gate, there were his great audience halls down among a grove of firs, -where probably he received Lord Macartney. Highly scented white single -peonies made fragrant the grass-grown courtyards, where great bronze -gongs are the remnants of a past magnificence, and the rooms are many of -them empty, for all they are so carefully sealed. There were more rooms -for the Emperor on an island in the lily-covered lake; and reached by -bridges that are taken up in June and July and boats substituted, and -farthest away of all, at the very end of the lake, were the rooms of the -Empress. - -“Happiness Hall” the Emperor Kwang Hsi wrote on it with his own hands, -or so our guide told us, and there to this day the golden characters -remain. Did they speak the truth, I wonder. At that particular period, I -believe, the Empress counted for a great deal more than the Emperor, so -possibly at least the envious Emperor felt he was speaking the truth; -but, as a rule, it is difficult to think that the woman who shared the -Dragon Throne could have been happy. It is difficult to believe that -any woman in China can be happy, she counts for so little even now. - -The courtyards were like all the other courtyards, with great gongs of -Ningpo work and bronze vases, and shaded by picturesque pine-trees, -only here was an innovation. In a sheltered corner, hidden away from the -sight of all, by high walls and green shrubs, was the bathing-place of -the Court ladies, and on the other side their theatre. - -The Emperor had a theatre not far from the gate of the pleasure-grounds, -a great place all falling into decay, and here they had a play for the -entertainment {295}of their guests, when the first British Ambassador -came here, and it is evident that the women were allowed to be present, -even though they were behind a screen, for Sir George Staunton relates -that the only foreigner, seen by these secluded women, was George -Staunton aged thirteen, the page to the Embassy, who was led on to a -platform by a eunuch, so that the wives and concubines of the Emperor -might see what a barbarian from the islands of the far Western sea -looked like. - -But here, close to her rooms, and by her bathing-place, the Empress -had her own private theatre, and I wondered what manner of play could -interest such secluded ladies, such narrow lives. - -Wonderful to relate both the theatre and the roof of the rooms showed -signs of having been recently done up. The rumour ran that after the -Revolution in February 1912, the Court thought of retiring here, and -these recent repairs in a place that has been untouched for years give -colour to the rumour. We asked our guide as we sat at afternoon tea on -the veranda looking out at the sunlight coming through the fir-trees -that make the approach to “Happiness Hall,” but he shook his head. He -knew nothing about it. He was a most circumspect young man and never did -know anything, he felt perhaps it was wisest not. - -Oh but it was sad the waste here. All these dwelling-places dotted about -in the valley, on hillside, hidden away in groves of trees, are of one -story, they are summer palaces, but the rooms are well-proportioned, -and with their wide verandas and their lattice-work walls down to the -ground, must have been delightful to live in, and they were furnished as -{296}an Emperor's palace should be furnished. There were chairs -unlike the usual Chinese chairs, comfortable chairs of red lacquer and -blackwood, and they were inlaid with cloisonne work, with carved jade, -with delightful patterns in mother-of-pearl, there were stools, there -were tables, there were low k'ang tables of lacquer, and all were -perished with the sun and the wind; of not one piece has any care been -taken. Some of the rooms were empty, some were full of packing-cases -hiding I know not what treasures; judging by those perishing chairs and -tables that were left out, I should imagine something worth possessing. -Can it be only fifty years since an Emperor came here, it might be two -hundred judging by the state of decay everything was in, and yet, -when all was said and done, this place struck me as being the most -magnificent pleasure-ground, the most beautifully situated, the most -beautifully planned, that I have ever seen, worth, and more than worth, -the arduous journey through the mountains that I had taken to see it. - -It is supposed to be cut off from the people, and it is I suppose, -judging by the joy the mission servants expressed at getting a chance to -see it. - -“All my life,” said the amah, “I have served in Manchu families, and yet -see, it is through a foreigner I come here,” and it was as if the seeing -had crowned her life. But still there is a little dribbling in of -the favoured few of the lower classes. It may be they were the palace -servants who speared great black bass in the lake. It might have been -they who carried out baskets of lily root and sold them with the fish -outside. I bought bass easily enough for my hostess, great things still -alive and bleeding from women's temple. - -Sometimes there are rumours of art treasures sold from the palace, and -then again it is contradicted: but I wondered, as I looked at those -great baskets of lily roots that were constantly going outside, if here -were not an excellent way to conceal contraband. It may be though that -the guards at the gate are not to be bought, and possibly I do them an -injustice. - -[Illustration: 0417] - -I had written this and felt apologetic for my suspicions of the humble -guard, forgetting that this is China, where anything may happen, when -before my book could go to press a greater than the guard, no less -a person than the Premier himself, Hsiung Hsi Ling, the great Tartar -General, was accused of taking away the precious curios from Jehol. He -had brought away curios valued at tens of thousands of pounds but he -succeeded in proving to the satisfaction of the President that he had -brought them away only that they might be stored in one of the great -museums in Peking, where not only could they be cared for, but they -might be seen by far more people. Again I thought of the Babylonish -gentleman. Doubtless he, too, would have moved the nation's treasures -from one place to another without saying by your leave to any man. To -whom was he responsible? Perhaps to the King upon the throne. Hardly to -him, if his army was strong and faithful. - -We lingered on the veranda of the Empress's house over our afternoon -tea--wherever we went hot water was procurable--and the sunshine came -through the branches of the pines and firs, the great willows dipped -their weeping branches in the clear waters of the lake, the deep blue of -the sky contrasted {298}with the green of the pine-needles, and a long -snake came slowly, slowly, through the grass to take his daily drink, -unperturbed, though all the servants and the German girl and I ran -to look at him. He knew he was quite safe, no one would harm a sacred -snake. A small eagle screamed from the rocks above, there was the -mourning of a dove, the plaintive cry of a hoopoe, and a chattering -black and white magpie looked on. A tiny blue kingfisher, like a jewel, -fluttered on to a stone, and a bird something like a thrush, sang -sweetly and loudly as the evening shadows lengthened. A great blue -crane, tall almost as a man flew slowly across the water, and the brown -deer clustered in the glades and began to feed. Truly it was an ideal -spot up among the barren hills of Inner Mongolia, this Park enclosed by -miles of high wall and still carefully guarded and jealously secluded -by the Republic as it was by the Manchus. When France became a Republic -they threw open her palaces and desecrated her most holy places. Not so -here in the unchanging East. What was secluded and difficult of entrance -in Manchu times is secluded and entered only by favour still. China -absorbs the present and clings to the past. Are they past for ever those -dead and gone rulers who made these pleasure-grounds? - -Their last representative is a little boy hidden away in the heart of -Peking, hardly realising yet what he has lost. - -“If he comes again,” said a Chinese gentleman, “he will be Emperor by -force of arms.” - -Will the power come back to him? I can no more believe that the Chinese -will become a modern nation, forgetting these glories of their past, -than could the women's bathing place. {299}prophet believe that the Lord -would leave His chosen people in captivity. - -[Illustration: 0421] - -“I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they -shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant -vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens and -eat the fruit of them. - -“And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled -out of their land, which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.” - -And we from the mission wended our way back through the dusty, dirty, -commonplace streets, and the little gentleman who had been our guide, -much to his relief, I am sure, for he spoke little English, and he would -not speak Chinese, turned off at the yamen. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII--THE VALLEY OF THE DEAD GODS - -{300} - -Legend of the birth of Ch'ien Lung--A valley of temples--Wells--A temple -fair--Hawking--Suicide's rock--Five hundred and eight Buddhas--The -Po-Ta-La--Supercilious elephants--Steep steps--Airless temple--The -persevering frog--Bright-roofed Temple--Tea at the Temple of the great -Buddha--The Yuan T'iing--Ming Temple outside Peking. - -As we walked in the Manchu Park the amah told us a story, a legend, and -the missionary translated it to me. It took a long while to tell, first -she slipped on the rocky steps and we had to wait till she recovered, -then the General's secretary joined us, and finally, when we were -safe back at the missionary compound, she had to wait till we got by -ourselves, because she thought it was improper! - -And this was the story the amah told as we walked beneath the fir-trees. - -Once upon a time in the valley of Jehol there was born a little girl who -did not speak till she was three years old, then she opened her lips, -looked at her grandfather, and called him by name. And her grandfather -died. She did not speak again for a long time, but the next person she -called by name also died and consternation reigned in the family. Her -father and mother died, whether because she spoke to them the amah -did not know, but she was left penniless and at last a farmer took -compassion {301}upon the girl, now just growing into womanhood, and told -her she might have charge of the ducks, on condition she did not speak. -So for her began a lonely, silent life among the mountains, herding the -ducks. - -One night as the dusk was falling and the duck pond and the hills beyond -were wrapped in a mysterious haze that hid and glorified everything, -there came along an old man riding a donkey and asked her the way to the -Hunting Palace of the Manchus that was somewhere among these hills and -valleys. He had lost his way, he said, and wanted to get back there. The -girl looked at him with mournful eyes and shook her head without saying -a word. - -“What is your name?” cried the old man. - -She turned away silently. - -“I must find my way,” he added, and she took up a stick and gathered her -ducks together. - -“But I am the Emperor,” said he, “and I must get back. What manner of -girl are you who will not speak to the Emperor?” - -And she looked at him more gravely than ever out of her dark eyes, and -drove off her ducks, taking no more notice of the greatest ruler in the -world than if he had been a common coolie. So the Emperor found his own -way to his Hunting Palace, and that night he dreamed a dream, a vivid -dream, that an ancestor had come to him and told him he must marry a -strange and mysterious woman. - -But the women who came to the ruler of the earth were not strange and -mysterious, they were ordinary and commonplace even though he had his -choice of the women of his Empire. He brooded over the matter and came -to the conclusion that the strange {302}and mysterious woman must be the -girl he had met herding ducks in the dusk of the evening. Then he sent -out to the part of the country where he had wandered that night and -demanded the daughters of the farmer. - -The good man was highly honoured and dressed his girls in their finest -clothes to appear before their Emperor, but, and they must have been -bitterly disappointed, though they were pretty girls, there was nothing -strange about them, they were as ordinary as all the other women who -occupied, the women's quarters. He had seen many, many, like them. Again -he sent back to the farm and they said there were no other women there -but the girl who herded the ducks, and it could not be she because she -spoke to no one. - -“That,” said the Emperor, “is the girl,” and he ordered her to be -properly arrayed and brought before him at once. - -Alas for the glamour that comes with the dusk of the evening. The girl -had grown up without any comeliness and when she was brought before the -Emperor he turned away disgusted. Nevertheless, for his dream's sake, he -married her and gave her a fine house to live in, but he had nothing to -do with her, she was his wife only in name. - -And the duck-herd girl, come to high estate, pined because she did not -find favour in the sight of her lord, she never ceased to pray for his -smiles, and at last she so worked upon him that one night he did send -for her. She was his wife, her shame had gone from her. And presently, -it was rumoured that the duck-herd girl was to become a mother. But the -Emperor was angry, he could not believe the child was his, and he turned -Her out to wander, desolate and forlorn, upon the hills. At first she -despaired, but presently she took courage, had she not been raised from -a duck-herd to an Emperor's wife, and was she not to bear his son, and -by her faith in herself she persuaded some shepherds who tended their -sheep upon the other side of the valley from the wall that surrounded -the Emperor's pleasure-grounds to take her in, and here her son was -born. - -[Illustration: 0427] - -And that night the Emperor dreamed another dream. He dreamed that a most -illustrious son had been born to him that very night. He sent to make -inquiries and the only one of his wives or concubines who had borne a -son that night, was the woman he had driven from him with contumely. -So he took her back with honour, and his dream--both his dreams were -fulfilled, for the son that was born to him that night among the hills -was the illustrious Ch'ien Lung, the man who at eighty-three still sat -upon the Dragon Throne when George III. of England sent Lord Macartney -on an embassy to China in 1793. - -And Ch'ien Lung was a good son to his mother at least, and because she -was a pious woman, and he was born amidst those sheltering hills, -he built there a series of temples to the glory of God and for her -pleasure. - -I was bound to go and see those temples, indeed I think the man or woman -who went to Jehol and did not make a point of going up that valley must -lack something. - -The drawback for me was that I had to go in a Peking cart, and even -though those temples were {304}built by an Emperor I had no reason to -suppose that the road that led to them was any better than the ordinary -Chinese roads. It wasn't, but I don't know that it was worse. Tuan -engaged the old white mule of venerable years, and I think that was an -advantage, he went so slowly that often I was able to walk. I did not -propose to visit all of them, there is a family likeness between all -Chinese temples, whatever be the name of the deity to whom they are -dedicated, and seeing too many I should miss the beauty of all. - -It was a gorgeous June morning the day I set out, sitting as far forward -as I could in the cart with Tuan on the tail of the shaft and the carter -walking at the mule's head. All round one side of Cheng Teh Fu is built -up a high wall that the Chinese call a breakwater, and a breakwater -I believe it is indeed after the summer rains, though then, the Jehol -River ran just a shallow trickle at its foot. There were many little -vegetable gardens along here, the ground most carefully cultivated and -showing not a weed, not a stray blade of grass. “The garden of every -peasant contained a well for watering it,” writes Sir George Staunton in -1793, “and the buckets for drawing up the water were made of ozier twigs -wattled or plaited, of so close a texture as to hold any fluid.” He -might have been writing of the peasants of today. As I passed, with -those selfsame buckets were they watering their gardens. - -The people were streaming out of the town, most of them on foot, but -there were a few fat men and small-footed women on donkeys, and one or -two of the richer people, I noticed by the women's dresses they were -mostly Manchus, had blossomed out into {305}Peking carts. For there was -a fair at one of the temples, a very minor temple; and a fair in China -seems to be much what it used to be in England, say one hundred, or -one hundred and fifty years ago. It attracts all the country people for -miles round. Here they were all clad in blue, save the lamas, who -were in bright yellow and dingy red. There were the people who came to -worship, followed by the people who came to trade, who must make money -out of them, men buying, selling, begging, men and women clad in neat -blue cotton, and in the dingiest, dirtiest rags, men gathering the -droppings of the mules and donkeys, and--how it made me think of -the historical novels I used to love to read in the days when novels -fascinated me--gentlemen with hooded hawks upon their wrists. All of -them wended their way along this road, this beautiful road, this very, -very bad road, and I went along with them, the woman who was not a -missionary, who was travelling by herself, and who, consequently, was an -object of interest to all, far outrivalling the fair, in attraction. It -was a scene peculiarly Chinese, and it will be many a long year before I -forget it. - -On the left-hand side rose a steep ridge well wooded for China, and on -the very top of the ridge ran the encircling wall that shut out all but -the favoured few from the pleasure-grounds of the Manchu Sovereigns. Six -weeks before, up among these mountains of Inner Mongolia, all the trees -were leafless, and on this day in June the leaves of the poplars and -aspens, acacias and oaks still retained the delicate, dainty green -of early spring, and on the right were the steep, precipitous cliffs -over{306}looking the town. One of these cliffs goes by the sinister -name of the “Suicide's Rock.” The Chinese, though we Westerners are -accustomed to regard them as impassive, are at bottom an emotional -people. They quarrel violently at times, and one way of getting even -with an enemy or a man who has wronged them is to dare him to go over -the “Suicide's Rock.” To my Western notions it is not quite clear how -the offender is scored off, for the challenger must be prepared to -accompany the challenged on his dreadful leap. Yet they do it. Three -times in the six years the missionaries have been here have a couple -gone over the cliff, to be dashed to pieces on the rocks below. - -But that sinister cliff was soon passed, and turning a little with the -wall we went up a valley, and up that valley for perhaps eight miles, -embosomed among the folds of the hills, hills for the most part steep, -rounded, and treeless, are the temples, red, and gold, and white, -against the green or brown of the hills. - -To the glory of God! Surely. Surely. An ideal place for temples whoever -placed them there, artist or Emperor, holy man, or grateful son. - -“Idols. Idols,” say the missionaries at Jehol sadly, those good, kindly -folk, whose life seemed to me an apology for living, a dedication of -their whole existence to the austere Deity they have set up. But here I -was among other gods. - -“We go last first,” said Tuan, and I approved. There would be no fear of -my missing something I particularly wanted to see if they were all on my -homeward path. - -“B-rrr! B-rrr! B-rrr!” cried my “cartee man” encouraging his old mule, -and as we went along the road, up the valley, and everywhere in this -treeless land, the temples were embowered in groves of trees, sometimes -fir-trees, sometimes acacia or white poplar, and always on the road -we passed the blue-clad people, and out of the carts peeped the Manchu -ladies with highly painted faces and flower-decked hair, till at last -we came to a halt under a couple of leafy acacia-trees, by a bridge that -had once been planned on noble lines. And bridges are needed here, for -the missionaries told me that a very little rain will put this road, -that is axle-deep in dust, five feet under water. But the bridge was -broken, the stones of the parapet were lying flat on one side; the -stones that led up to it were gone altogether. And as the bridge that -led up to it so was the temple. - -[Illustration: 0433] - -[Illustration: 0434] - -Tuan, with some difficulty, made me understand it was the Temple of the -five hundred and eight Buddhas, and as I went in, attended by a priest -in the last stages of dirt and shabbiness, I saw rows upon rows of -seated Buddhas greater than life-size, covered with gold leaf that shone -out bright in the semi-darkness, with shaven heads and faces, sad and -impassive, gay, and laughing, and frowning. Dead gods surely, for the -roof is falling in, the hangings are tatters, and the dust of years lies -thick on floor, on walls, on the Buddhas themselves. There was a pot of -sand before one golden figure rather larger than the rest, and I burned -incense there, bowing myself in the House of Rimmon, because I do not -think that incense is often burned now before the dead god. - -They are all dead these gods in the temples {308}builded by a pious -Emperor for his pious mother. The next I visited was a lamaserie, built -in imitation of the Po-Ta-La in Lhasa. It climbs up the steep hill-side, -story after story, with here and there on the various stages a -pine-tree, and the wind whispers among its boughs that the Emperor who -built and adorned it is long since dead, the very dynasty has passed -away, and the gods are forgotten. Forgotten indeed. I got out of my -cart at the bottom of the hill, and the gate opened to me, because -the General had sent to say that one day that week a foreign woman was -coming and she must have all attention, else I judge I might have waited -in vain outside those doors. Inside is rather a gorgeous p'ia lou, -flanked on either side by a couple of elephants. I cannot think the man -who sculptured them could ever have seen an elephant, he must have done -it from description, but he has contrived to put on those beasts such a -very supercilious expression it made me smile just to look at them. - -From that p'ia lou the monastery rises. Never in my life before have -I seen such an effect of sheer steep high walls. I suppose it must be -Tibetan, for it is not Chinese as I know the Chinese. Stage after stage -it rose up, showing blank walls that once were pinkish red, with square -places like windows, but they were not windows, they were evidently put -there to catch the eye and deepen the effect of steepness. Stage after -stage I climbed up steep and narrow steps that were closed alongside the -wall, and Tuan, according to Chinese custom, supported my elbow, as if -it were hardly likely I should be capable of taking another step. Also, -according to his custom, he had engaged a ragged follower to {309}carry -my camera, and a half-naked little boy to bear the burden of the -umbrella. I don't suppose I should have said anything under any -circumstances, China had taught me my limitations where my servants were -concerned, but that day I was glad of his aid, for this Tibetan temple -meant to me steep climbing. I have no use for stairs. Stage after stage -we went, and on each platform the view became wider, far down the valley -I could see, and the hills rose range after range, softly rounded, -rugged, fantastic, till they faded away in the far blue distance. I had -thought the Nine Dragon Temple wonderful, but now I knew that those men -of the Ming era who had built it had never dreamed of the glories of -these mountains of Inner Mongolia. I was weary before I came to the -last pine-tree, but still there was a great walled, flat-topped building -towering far above me, its walls the faded pinkish red, on the edge of -its far-away roof a gleam of gold. - -The steps were so narrow, so steep, and so rugged, that if I had not -been sure that never in my life should I come there again I should have -declined to go up them, but I did go up, and at the top we came to -a door, a door in the high blind wall that admitted us to a great -courtyard with high walls towering all round it and a temple, one of -the many temples in this building, in the centre. The temple was -crowded with all manner of beautiful things, vases of cloisonné, figures -overlaid with gold leaf, hangings of cut silk, the chair of the Dalai -Lama in gold and carved lacquer-work, the mule-saddle used by the -Emperor Ch'ien Lung, lanterns, incense burners, shrines, all heaped -together in what seemed to me the wildest confusion, and everything -was {310}more than touched with the finger of decay. All the rich, red -lacquer was perished, much of the china and earthenware was broken, the -hangings were rotted and torn and ragged, the paint was peeling from -stonework and wood, the copper and brass was green with rust. Ichabod! -Ichabod! The gods are dead, the great Emperor is but a name. - -It was oppressive in there too, for the blank walls towered up four -sides square, the bright blue sky was above and the sun was shining -beyond, but the mountain breezes for at least one hundred and fifty -years have not been able to get in here, and it was hot, close, and -airless. Once there were more steps that led up to the very top of the -wall, but they are broken and dangerous now, crumbling to ruin, and as -far as I could make out from Tuan's imperfect English no one has been -up them for many a long day. There was nothing to be done but to go -away from this airless temple and make my way down, down to the platform -where are its foundations, and thence down, down, by the little plateaux -where the pine-trees grow, by the rough and broken paths to the floor of -the valley again. - -Sightseeing always wearies me. I want to see these places, I want to -know what they are like, I want to be in a position to talk about them -to people who have also been there--they are the people who are most -interested in one's doings--but the actual doing of the sightseeing I -always find burdensome. Now having done so much I was tempted to go back -and say I had had enough, for the time being, at any rate, but then I -remembered I could not indefinitely trespass upon the kindness of my -hosts, I must go soon, and I should never, never come back to this -valley. Still I was desperately tired and sorely tempted to give up, and -then I remembered the two frogs who fell into a pitcher of milk. I don't -think Æsop told the story, but he ought to have done so. They swam round -and round hopelessly, for there was no possibility of getting out, and -one said to the other, “It's no good, we may as well give in. It'll save -trouble in the end,” and he curled up his legs and sank to the bottom of -the milk and was drowned. But the other frog was made of sterner stuff. - -“I think I'll just hustle round a bit,” said he, needless to say he -was an American frog, “who knows what may happen.” So he swam round and -round, and sure enough when they looked into that pitcher in the morning -there he was sitting on a little pat of butter! - -[Illustration: 0440] - -I thought of that frog as I sat at the door of the next temple we drove -up to, and I, weary and tired and a little cross, had to wait some time, -for the priest who had the keys was not there. Of course I had sent no -word that I was coming and it was unreasonable of me to expect that the -priest should wait from dawn till dark for my arrival. With me waited a -little crowd of people, men, women, and children, that gradually grew in -numbers, and when the custodian at last arrived it was evident they all -intended to take advantage of my presence and go in and see the temple -too. I had not the least objection, neither, it seemed, had the priest. -They were holiday-makers from the fair, and they probably gave him some -small trifle. Tuan decided that we should give eighty cents, roughly -about one and eightpence, or forty cents American money. {312}And glad -indeed was I that I had waited. Not that the temple differed much inside -the courtyard and the sanctuary from the other temples I have seen, -all was the same ruin and desolation, only after I had climbed up many -steps, roughly made of stones and earth, we came upon a platform from -which the roof was visible. The Emperor's Palace, they call this, or the -Bright-roofed Temple, and truly it is well-named. Its roof, with dragons -running up all four corners, is of bronze covered with gold, and gleams -and glitters in the sunshine. Solomon's Temple, in all its glory, could -not have been more wonderful, and as I tried to photograph it, though no -photograph can give any idea of its beauty, some girls, Manchu by their -head-dresses, with flowers in their hair, giggled and pointed, and -evidently discussed me. I thought they would come in well--a contrast to -that gorgeous roof, but a well-dressed Chinese--not in foreign clothes, -I imagine the General's secretary is the only man up among these hills -who could indulge in such luxuries, drove them away and then came and -apologised, through Tuan, for their behaviour. I said, truly enough, -that I did not mind in the least, but he said, as far as I. could make -out, that their behaviour was unpardonable, so I am afraid they hadn't -admired me, which was unkind, considering I had taken them in. - -The next temple, a mass of golden brown and green tiled roofs, looked -loveliest of all in its setting, against the hill-side. The roofs, -broken and irregular, peeped out from among the firs and pines, and -there was a soft melody in the air as we approached, for a wind, a -gentle wind had arisen, and every bell {313}hanging at the corners of -the many roofs was chiming musically. I do not know any sweeter sound -than the sound of those temple bells as the evening falls. This was -an extensive place of many courtyards, climbing up the hill like the -lamaserie, the Ta Fo Hu they call it or “Great Buddha Temple,” for in -one of the temples, swept and garnished better than any temples I had -seen before, was a colossal figure seventy feet high with many arms -outstretched and an eye in the palm of every hand. It is surely a very -debased Buddhism, but I see the symbolism, the hand which bestows and -the eye which sees all things. But for all the beauty of the symbolism -it was ugly, as all the manifestations of the Deity, as conceived -by man, are apt to be. The stone flooring was swept, but the gold is -falling from the central figure, the lacquer is perished, the hangings -are torn and dust-laden beyond description, and the only things of -any beauty are walls which are covered with little niches in which are -seated tiny golden Buddhas, hundreds of them. I wanted to buy one but -the priests shook their heads, and it would have been a shame to despoil -the temple. Even if they had said, “Yes,” I don't know that I would have -taken it. - -There were many priests here, shaven-headed old men and tiny children -in brilliant yellow and purplish red, but they were all as shabby and -poverty-stricken as the temple itself. I had tea on one of the many -platforms overlooking many roofs, and a young monk made me a seat from -the broken yellow tiles that lay on the ground, and the little boy -priests looked so eagerly at the cakes I had brought with me--the -priests gave me tea--that I gave some to them and {314}they gobbled them -up like small boys all the world over. Tuan pointed out to me some dark -steps in the wall. If I went up there I should reach the Great Buddha's -head; but I shook my head, not even the recollection of the frog who -gave up so easily could have made me climb those steps. I am not even -sorry now that I didn't. - -I was very tired by this time, and very thankful that there was only one -more temple to see. There were really eight in all, but I was suffering -from a surfeit of temples, only I could not miss this one, for every day -when I went for a walk I could see its glorious golden brown tiled roof -amid the dark green of the surrounding mountain pines. It was unlike any -Chinese roof I have seen, but it is one of the temples of this valley. -It is the Yuan T'ing, a temple built by Ch'ien Lung, not for his mother -but for a Tibetan wife, after the style of her country, that she might -not feel so lonely in a strange land. - -Its pinkish red arched walls and gateways seemed quite close, but it -was exceedingly difficult to get at, particularly for a tired woman who, -when she was not jolting in a Peking cart, had been climbing up more -steps than even now she cares to think about. And the temple, save for -that roof, was much like every other temple, a place of paved courtyards -with the grass and weeds growing up among the stones, and grass and even -young pine-trees growing on the tiled roofs. The altars were shabby -and decayed, and when I climbed up till I was right under the domed -roof--and it was a steep climb--more than once I was tempted to turn -back and take it as read, as they do long reports at meetings. I found -the round chamber was the roosting-place of many pigeons, all {315}the -lacquer was perished, the bronze rusted, and though the attendant opened -many doors with many keys, I know that the place is seldom visited, and -but for that vivid roof, it must be forgotten. - -[Illustration: 0446] - -And yet the people like to look at these things. There was not a crowd -following me as there was at the Bright-roofed Temple, but there was -still the ragged-looking coolie who was carrying my camera. I suspected -him of every filthy disease known in China, and their name must be -legion, any that had by chance escaped him I thought might have found -asylum with the boy who bore my umbrella. I hoped that rude health and -an open-air life would enable me to throw off any germs. These two, who -had had to walk where I had ridden, I pitied, so I told Tuan to say they -need not climb up as I had used up all my plates and certainly had no -use for an umbrella. - -“She say 'No matter,'” said Tuan including them both in the feminine, -“She like to come,” and I think he liked it as well, for they escorted -me with subdued enthusiasm round that domed chamber inspecting what must -have been a reproduction of a debased Buddhist hell in miniature. It was -covered with dust, faded, and weather-worn, like everything else in the -temple, but it afforded the four who were with me great pleasure, and -when with relief I saw a figure instead of being bitten by a snake, or -eaten by some gruesome beast, or sawn asunder between two planks, -merely resting in a tree, Tuan explained with great gusto and evident -satisfaction: “Spikes in tree.” He took care I should lose none of the -flavour of the tortures. But even the tortures were faded and worn, the -dust had settled on them, the air and the sun {316}had perished them, -and I could not raise a shudder. Dusty and unclean they spoiled for me -the beauty of the golden roof and the dark green mountain pines. I was -glad to go down the many steps again, glad to go down to the courtyard -where the temple attendant, who might have been a priest, but was -dressed in blue cotton and had the shaven head and queue that so many -of the Manchus still affect, gave me tea out of his tiny cups, seated on -the temple steps. A dirty old man he was, but his tea was perfect, and I -made up my mind not to look whether the cups were clean, for his manners -matched his tea. - -And then I went out on to the broad cleared space in front, and feasted -my eyes for the last time on the golden brown tiled roof set amongst the -green of the pines, and clear-cut against the vivid blue of the sky. - -And yet it is not the beauty only that appeals, there is something more -than that, for even as I look at those hills, I remember another temple -I visited just outside Peking, a little temple, and I went not by myself -but with a party of laughing young people. There was nothing beautiful -about this temple, the walls were crumbled almost to dust, the roof was -falling in, upon the tiles the grasses were growing, the green kaoliang -crept up to the forsaken altars, and the dust-laden wind of Northern -China swept in through the broken walls and caressed the forgotten gods -who still in their places look out serenely on the world beyond. - -I could not but remember Swinburne, “Laugh out again for the gods are -dead.” Are they dead? Does anything die in China? {317}In the Ming -Dynasty, some time in the fifteenth century, when the Wars of the Roses -were raging in England they built this little temple, nearly three -hundred years before Ch'ien Lung built the temples in the valley at -Jehol, and they installed the gods in all the glory of red lacquer and -gold, and when the last gold leaf had been laid on and the last touches -had been given to the dainty lacquer they walked out and left it, left -it to the soft, insidious decay that comes to things forgotten. For it -must be remembered, whether we look at this valley of dead gods or this -little temple outside Peking, that when a memorial is put up it is not -expected to last for ever, and no provision is made or expected for its -upkeep. If it last a year, well and good, so was the man to whom it was -put up, valued, and if it last a hundred years--if five hundred years -after it was dedicated there still remains one stone standing upon the -other, how fragrant the memory of that man must have been. It is five -hundred years since this temple was built and still it endures. Behind -is the wall of the city, grim and grey, but the gods do not look upon -the wall, their faces are turned to the south and the gorgeous sunshine. -They still sit in their places, but the little figures that once adorned -the chamber are lying about on the ground or leaning up disconsolately -against the greater gods, and some of them are broken. On the ground, -in the dust, was a colossal head with a face that reminded us that the -silken robes of Caesar's wife came from China, for that head was never -modelled from any Mongolian, dead or alive. A Roman Emperor might have -sat for it. The faces that looked down on it, lying there in the dust, -were Eastern there were the narrow {318}eyes, the impassive features, -the thin lips, but this, this was European, this man had lived and -loved, desired and mourned, and, for there was just a touch of scorn on -the lips, when he had drained life to its dregs, or renounced its joys, -said with bitterness: “All is vanity.” - -And the Chinese peasants came and looked at the aliens having tiffin in -the shade, and for them our broken meats were a treat. One was crippled -and one was blind and one was covered with the sores of smallpox, so -hideous to look upon that the lady amongst us who prided herself upon -her good looks turned shuddering away and implored that they be driven -off, before we all caught the terrible disease. - -What could life possibly hold for these people? Surely for them the gods -are dead? - -I talked with an old woman, dirty and wrinkled, with a bald head and -maimed feet. - -“She asks how old you are?” translated the young man beside me. - -“Tell her I am sixty.” I thought it would sound more respectable. - -“A-a-h!” She looked at me a moment. “She says,” he went on translating, -“that you have worn better than she has, for she is sixty too. And have -you any sons?” - -For a moment I hesitated, but I was not going to lose face, what would -she think of a woman without sons, so I laid my hand on his arm, and -smiled to indicate that he was my son. - -“A-a-h!” and she talked and smiled. - -“What does she say?” He looked a little shy. “Tell me” - -“She says you are to be congratulated,” and indeed he was a fine -specimen of manhood. “She says she has three sons.” - -[Illustration: 0452] - -And alas, alas, I had brought it on myself, for I was not to be -congratulated, I have no son, but I was answered too. I have called the -gods dead, but they are not dead. What if the temple crumbles? There is -the cloudless sky and the growing green around it. This woman was old, -and grey, and bent. The gods have given her three sons, and she is -content. This child had the smallpox, and by and by when it shall have -passed--Ah but that is beyond me. What compensation can there be for the -scarred face and blinded eyes? Only if we understood all things, perhaps -the savour would be gone from life. Behind all is the All Merciful, the -dead gods in the temples are but a manifestation of the Great Power that -is over all. - -I thought of that little temple outside the walls of Peking, and the -old woman who congratulated me on the son I had not as I stood taking -my last look at the Yuan T'ing. And then I looked again away down -the valley to the folds of the hills where the other temples nestled, -embowered in trees. Far away I could see the sheer walls of the Po Ta -La climbing up the hill-side golden and red and white with the evening -sunlight falling upon them, and making me feel that just so from this -very spot at this very hour they should be looked at, and then I went -down, a ten minutes' weary scramble, I was very, very tired, to my cart -and across the Jehol River again, back to the missionary compound. - -Never again shall I visit that valley of temples that lies among the -hills of Inner Mongolia, never again, and though, of course, since the -days of {320}Marco Polo Europeans have visited it, it is so distant, so -difficult to come at that they have not gone in battalions. But those -temples in the folds of the hills are beautiful beyond dreaming, and -though their glory has gone, still in their decay, with the eternal -hills round and behind them, they form a fitting memorial to the man who -set them there to the glory of God and for his humble mother's sake. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII--IN A WUPAN - -{321} - -_The difficulties of the laundry--A friend in need--A strange picnic -party--The authority of the parent--Travelling in a mule litter--Rain--A -frequented highway--Yellow oiled paper--Restricted quarters--Dodging the -smoke--“What a lot you eat!”--Charm of the river--Modest Chinamen--The -best-beloved grandchild--The gorges of the Lanho--The Wall again--Effect -of rain on the Chinaman--The captain's cash-box--A gentleman of -Babylon--Lanchou._ - -|And now it was time to bid farewell to my kind hosts and start back to -Peking. Thank goodness it was going to be fairly easy. Instead of the -abominable cart I was going to float down the River Lan in a wupan, a -long, narrow, flat-bottomed boat. - -First I sent my servant with my card to the Tartar General to thank him -for all his kindness. This brought Mr Wu down again with the General's -card at the most awkward hour of course, in the middle of tiffin, and Mr -Wu, much to my surprise, was dignified and even stately in full Chinese -dress. He was all grey and black. His petticoat or coat or whatever -it is called was down to his ankles and was of silk, he wore a little -sleeveless jacket, and his trousers were tied in with neat black bands -at his neat little ankles. So nice did he look, such a contrast to the -commonplace little man I had seen before, that I felt obliged to admire -him openly. Besides, I am {322}told that is quite in accordance with -Chinese good manners. - -He received my compliments with a smile, and then explained the reason -of the change. - -“Must send shirt, collar, Tientsin, be washed. I very poor man, no more -got.” - -And Tientsin was three or four days by river, sometimes much more, as -well as five hours by train! I felt he had indeed done me an honour when -he had used up his available stock of linen in my entertaining, and to -think I had only admired him when he was in native dress! - -Another Chinese gentleman came in that day and was introduced to me. He -contented himself with Chinese dress, and he had more English, though it -was of a peculiar order. - -“But I hate to hear people laugh at Mr Chung's English,” said the -missionary who was a man of the world. “He was a good friend to me and -mine. If it hadn't been for him, I doubt if I or my wife or children -would be here now.” - -It was the time of the Boxer trouble, and the missionary was stationed -at Pa Kou where Mr Chung had charge of the telegraph station. The -missionaries grew salads in their garden, which the head of the -telegraphs much appreciated, and even when he felt it wiser not to be -too closely in touch with the foreigners, he still sent down a basket -for a salad occasionally. One day in the bottom of the basket he put -a letter. “The foreign warships are attacking the Taku Forts,” it ran, -“better get away. I am keeping back the news.” - -But the missionary could not get away. Up and down the town he went, -but he could get no carts. {323}All the carters raised their prices to -something that was prohibitive, even though death faced them. And then -came the basket again for more salads and in the bottom was another -letter. - -“The foreign ships have taken the Taku Forts,” it said. “I am keeping -back the news. Go away as soon as possible.” - -And then the missionary spoke outright of his dilemma, and Mr Chung went -to the Prefect of the town and enlisted him on their side. The carters -were sent for. - -“You would not go,” said the Prefect, “when this man offered you a great -sum of money,” it sounded quite Biblical as he told it. “Now you will go -for the ordinary charge or I will take off your heads.” - -So two carts were got, and the missionary, his wife, and children, and -as much of their household goods as they could take, were hustled into -them, and they started off for the nearest port. - -“If ever I am in a hole again I hope I travel with such women,” said the -missionary; “they were as cheerful as if it was a picnic-party.” - -All went well for a couple of days, and then one day, passing through a -town, a man came up and addressed them, and said he was servant to some -Englishmen, a couple of mining engineers, who were held up in this town, -because they had heard there was an ambush laid for all foreigners a -little farther down the road. And the missionaries had thought they were -the last foreigners left in the country! - -They promptly sought out the Englishmen, who confirmed the boy's -story. It was not safe to go farther. The little party decided to stick -together, {324}and finally the missionary went to the Prefect and told -him how the Prefect at Pa Kou had helped them, and suggested it would -be wise to do likewise, especially as the foreigners were sure to win in -the end. - -The Prefect considered the matter and finally promised to help them, -provided they put themselves entirely in his hands and said nothing, -no matter what they heard. It seemed a desperate thing to do to put -themselves entirely in the hands of their enemies, but it was the -only chance, that chance or Buckley's and Buckley, says the Australian -proverb, never had a chance. They agreed to the Prefect's terms; he set -a guard of soldiers over them, and they travelled surrounded by them. -But at first they were very doubtful whether they had been wise in -trusting a man who was to all intents and purposes an open enemy. - -“Where did you get them?” asked the people of the soldiers as they -passed. And the soldiers detailed at length their capture. - -“And what are you going to do with them?” And the soldiers always said -that, by the orders of the Prefect of the town where they had been -captured, they were taking them on to be delivered over to the proper -authorities, who would know what to do with them, doubtless the least -that could happen would be that they would have their heads taken off. - -And the man who told me the story had lived through such days as that. -Had seen his wife and children live through them! - -But the Prefect was as good as his word, the soldiers saw them through -the danger-zone to safety. - -“But if it had not been for Mr Chung in the first {325}instance-------” - says the missionary, and his gratitude was in his voice. - -And Mr Chung had his own troubles. He was progressive and modern, not, -I think, Christian, and he had actually himself taught his daughters to -read. Also he had decided not to bind their feet. And then, the pity -of it--and the extraordinary deference that is paid to elders in -China--there came orders from his parents in Canton--he must be a man -over forty--the daughters' feet were to be bound. - -I was glad indeed to have heard the story of Mr Chung before I set out -on my journey. - -The Lanho is seven miles, a two hours' journey by mule litter or cart -from Cheng Teh Fu, and I decided to go by litter and send my things by -cart, for, not only did I object to a cart, but I thought I would like -to see what travelling by mule litter was like. I am perfectly satisfied -now--I don't ever want to go by one again. - -I had to get in at the missionary compound, because it takes four men to -lift a litter on to the mules, and there was only one to attend to -it. It was early in the morning, only a little after six, but all the -missionaries walked about a mile of the way with me--I felt it was -exceedingly kind of them, because it was the only time I ever saw men -and women together outside the compound--then they bade me good-bye, -and I was fairly started on my journey. I sat in my litter on a spring -cushion, lent me for the cart by a Chinese gentleman, and I endeavoured -to balance myself so that the litter should not--as it seemed to me to -be threatening to do--turn topsy-turvy. It made me rather uncomfortable -at first, because once in there is no way of getting out without -{326}lifting the litter off the mules. You may indeed slip down between -it and the leading mule's hind legs, but that proceeding strikes me as -decidedly risky, for a mule can kick and his temper does not seem to be -improved by having the shafts of a litter on his back. - -It was a cloudy morning and it threatened rain. I had only seen one -day's rain since I had been in China. The scenery was wild and grand. We -went along by the Jehol River, on the edge of one range of precipitous -mountains, while the other, on the other side of the river, towered -above us. We were going along the bottom of a valley, as is usual in -this part of the world, but as the Jehol is a flowing river and takes up -a good part of the bottom, we very often went along a track that was -cut out of the mountain-side. The white mule in front with the jingling -bells and red tassels on his collar and headstall, always preferred the -very edge, so that when I looked out of the left-hand side of my litter, -I looked down a depth of about thirty or forty feet, as far as I could -guess, into the river-bed below. I found it better not to look. Not that -it was very deep or that there was any likelihood of my going over. I am -fully convinced, in spite of the objurgations showered upon him by the -driver, that that white mule knew his business thoroughly. Still it made -me uncomfortable to feel so helpless. - -And the way was very busy indeed, even thus early in the morning. All -sorts of folk were going along it, there were heavy country carts drawn -by seven strong mules, they were taking grain to the river to be shipped -“inside the Wall,” and the road that they followed was abominable. Every -now and {327}again they would stick in the heavy sand or ruts, or stones -of the roadway--everything that should not be in a road, according to -our ideas, was there--and the driver would promptly produce a spade and -dig out the wheels, making the way for the next cart that passed worse -than ever. Two litters passed us empty, and we met any number of donkeys -laden, I cannot say with firewood, but with bundles of twigs that in any -other country that I know would not be worth the gathering, much less -the transport, but would be burnt as waste. And there were numberless -people on foot, this was evidently a much-frequented highway, since it -was busy now when it was threatening rain, for no Chinese go out in the -rain if they can help it. I thoroughly sympathise, I should think twice -myself before going if I had but one set of clothes and nowhere to -dry them if they got wet. The hill-sides were rocky and sterile, but -wherever there was a flat place, wherever there was a little pocket of -fertile ground, however inaccessible it might appear, it was carefully -cultivated, so was all the valley bottom along the banks of the river, -and all this ground was crying out for the rain. And then presently -down it came, heavy, pouring rain such as I had only seen once before -in China. It drove across our pathway like a veil, all the rugged hills -were softened and hidden in a grey mist, and my muleteer drew over and -around me sheets of yellow oiled paper through which I peered at the -surrounding scenery. I wasn't particularly anxious to get wet myself, -because I did not see in an open boat how on earth I was ever to get -dry again, and three or four days wet or even damp, would not have been -either comfortable, or healthy. - -[Illustration: 0462] - -{328}At last we arrived at the river, a broad, swift-flowing, muddy river -running along the bottom of the valley and apparently full to the brim, -at least there were no banks, and needless to say, of course, there was -not a particle of vegetation to beautify it. There was a crossing here -very like the ferrying-place I had crossed on my journey up, and there -were a row of long boats with one end of them against the bank. It was -raining hard when I arrived, and the litter was lifted down from the -mules, but the only thing to do was to sit still and await the arrival -of Tuan and my baggage in the Peking cart. - -They came at last, and the rain lifting a little Tuan set about -preparing one of the boats for my reception. - -I must confess I looked on with interest, because I did not quite see -how I was going to spend several days with a servant and three boatmen -in such cramped quarters. The worst of it was there was no getting out -of it now if I did not like it, it had to be done. Though I do worry so -much I always find it is about the wrong thing. I had never--and I might -well have done so--thought about the difficulties of this boat journey -until I stood on the banks of the river, committed to it, and beyond the -range of help from any of my own colour. For one moment my heart sank. -If it had been the evening I should have despaired, but with fourteen -good hours of daylight before me I can always feel hopeful, especially -if they are to be spent in the open air. The wupan is about thirty-seven -feet long, flat bottomed, and seven feet wide in the middle, tapering of -course towards the ends. In the middle V-shaped sticks hold up a ridge -pole, and {329}across this Tuan put a couple of grass mats we had bought -for this purpose, then he produced some unbleached calico--and when -I think of what I paid for that unbleached calico, and how poor the -Chinese peasants are, I am surprised that the majority of them do not -go naked--and proceeded to make of it a little tent for me right in the -middle of the awning. I stood it until I discovered that the idea was -he should sleep at one end and the boatmen at the other, and then I -protested. What I was to be guarded from I did not know, but I made him -clearly understand that one end of the boat I must have to myself. There -might be a curtain across the other end of the awning, that I did not -mind, but I must be free to go out without stepping on sleeping servant -or boatmen. That little matter adjusted, much to his surprise, the next -thing we had to think about was the stove. I wanted it so placed that -when the wind blew the matting did not make a funnel that would carry -the smoke directly into my face. But that is just exactly what it -did do, and I've come to the conclusion there is no possible way of -arranging a stove comfortably on a winding river. We tried it aft, and -we tried it for'ard, and when it was aft it seemed the wind was behind, -and when it was for'ard the wind was ahead, and whichever way the smoke -came it was equally unpleasant, so I decided the only thing to be done -was to smile and look pleasant, and be thankful that whereas I required -three meals a day to sustain me in doing nothing, my boatmen who did -all the work and had a stove of their own, apparently, sustained life on -two. The ideal way would be to have a companion and two boats, and -then the trip would be delightful. {330}As it was I found it well worth -doing. - -The rain stopped that first day soon after we left the crossing-place, -and from the little low boat the mountains on either side appeared to -tower above us, rugged, precipitous, sterile; they were right down to -the waters edge and the river wound round, and on the second day we were -in the heart of the mountains, and passed through great rocky gorges. -It was lonely for China, but just as I thought that no human being could -possibly live in such a sterile land, I would see far up on the hills a -little spot of blue, some small boy herding goats, or a little pocket -of land between two great rocks, carefully tilled, and the young green -crops just springing up. And then again there were little houses, neat, -tidy little houses with heavy roofs, and I wondered what it must be -like to be here in the mountains when the winter held them in its grip. -Somehow it seemed to me far more lonely and desolate than anything I had -seen on my way across country. - -We always tied up for the men to eat their midday meal, and we always -tied up for the night. But we wakened at the earliest glimmer of dawn. -They evidently breakfasted on cold millet porridge, and I, generally, -was up and dressed and had had my breakfast and forgotten all about it -by five-thirty in the morning. My bed took up most of the room in my -quarters, I dressed and washed on it, a bath was out of the question, -and pulling aside the curtains sat on it and had my breakfast, the -captain of the boat, the gentleman with the steering-oar, looking on -with the greatest interest. - -He spoke to Tuan evidently about my breakfast, and I asked him what he -said. - -“She say what a lot you eat,” said Tuan. “Not in ten days she have so -much.” - -{468}And I was surprised, because I had thought my breakfast exceedingly -frugal. I had watched the eggs being poached, and I ate them without -butter or toast or bacon, I had a dry piece of bread, tea, of course, -and some unappetising stewed pears. But by and by I was watching my -captain shovelling in basinsful of millet porridge, about ten times as -much as I ate, and I came to the conclusion it was the variety he was -commenting on, not the amount. - -They were things of delight those early mornings on the river. At first -all the valley would be wrapped in a soft grey mist, with here and there -the highest peaks, rugged and desolate, catching the sunlight; then -gradually, gradually, the sun came down the valley and the mists melted -before his rays, lingering here and there in the hollows, soft and grey -and elusive, till at last the sunlight touched the water and gave this -muddy water of the river a golden tint, and all things rejoiced in -the new-born day. The little blue kingfishers preened themselves, the -blue-grey cranes with white necks and black points that the Chinese call -“long necks” sailed with outspread wings slowly across the water, and -the sunlight on the square sails of the upcoming boats made them gleam -snow white. For there was much traffic on the river. Desolate as the -country round was, the river was busy. The boats that were going down -stream were rowed, and those that were coming up, when the wind was -with them, put out great square sails, and when it was against them were -towed by four men. They fastened the towing rope to the mast, stripped -themselves, and slipping a {332}loop over their heads fixed it round -their chests and pulled by straining against a board that was fast -in the loop. The current was strong, and it must have been hard work -judging by the way they strained on the rope. The missionaries were -afraid I would be shocked at the sight of so many naked men, but it -was the other way round, my presence, apparently the only woman on the -river, created great consternation, for the Chinaman is a modest man. -Badly I wanted to get a photograph of those straining men, for never -have I seen the Chinese to greater advantage. In their shabby blue -cotton they look commonplace and of the slums, you feel they are -unwashed, but these suggest splendid specimens of brawny manhood. They -don't need to be washed. However, as we approached, boatmen and servant -all raised their voices in a loud warning singsong. What they said, I -do not know, but it must have been something like: “Oh brothers, put on -your clothes. We have a bothering foreign woman on board.” The result -would be a wild scramble and everybody would be getting into dirty blue -garments, only some unfortunate, who was steering in a difficult part or -had hold of a rope that could not be dropped was left helpless, and he -crouched down or hid behind a more lucky companion. If there had been -anybody with whom to laugh I would have laughed many a time when we met -or passed boats on the Lanho. But I never got a really good photograph -of those towing men. My men evidently felt it would be taking them at -a disadvantage, and the production of my camera was quite sufficient -to send us off into mid stream, as far away from the towing boat as -possible. - -Occasionally the hills receded just a little and left a small stretch -of flat country where there were always exceedingly neat-looking huts. -There were the neatest bundles of sticks stacked all round them, just -twigs, and we landed once to buy some, for the men cooked entirely with -them, and my little stove needed them to start the charcoal. But oh, the -people who came out of those houses were dirty. Never have I seen such -unclean-looking unattractive women. One had a child in her arms -with perfectly horrible-looking eyes, and I knew there was another -unfortunate going to be added to the many blind of China. She ran away -at the sight of me, and so did two little stark-naked boys. I tempted -them with biscuits, and their grandfather or great-grandfather, he might -have been, watched with the deepest interest. He and I struck up quite -a friendship over the incident, smiling and laughing and nodding to one -another, as much as to say, “Yes, it was natural they should be afraid, -but we--we, who had seen the world--of course knew better.” Then he went -away and fetched back in his arms another small shaven-headed youngster -whom he patted and petted and called my attention to, as much as to say -this was little Benjamin, the well-beloved, had I not a biscuit for him? -Alas I had been too long away from civilisation and I had given away all -I had. But when I think about it, it is always with a feeling of regret -that I had not a sweet biscuit for that old Chinaman up in the mountains -and his best-beloved grandson. - -I saw one morning some men fishing in the shallows by a great rock, and -I demanded at once that we buy a fish. They were spearing the fish and -{334}we bought a great mud-fish for five cents, for I saw the money -handed over, and then the unfortunate fish with a reed through his gills -was dragged through the water alongside the boat. When I came to eat a -small piece of him, which I did with interest I was so tired of chicken, -he was abominable, and I smiled a little ruefully when I found in the -accounts he was charged at thirty-five cents! Judging by the nastiness -of that fish one ought to be able to buy up the entire contents of the -Lanho for such a sum. However, the boatmen ate him gladly, and I suppose -if I lived on millet for breakfast, tiffin, and dinner, and any time -else when I felt hungry, I might even welcome a mud-fish for a change. -Their only relish appeared to be what Tuan called “sour pickle.” There -was one most unappetising-looking salted turnip which lasted a long -while, though every one of the crew had a bite at it. - -Gorge after gorge we passed, and the rocks rising above us seemed very -high, while the sun beating down upon the water in that enclosed space -made it very hot in the middle of the day, and I was very glad indeed of -the mat awning, though, of course, it was of necessity so low that even -I, who am a short woman, could not stand up underneath, but it kept -off the sun, and the air, coming through as we were rowed along, made a -little breeze. There were rapids, many rapids, but they did not impress -me. I couldn't even get up a thrill, sometimes indeed the boat was -turned right round, but it always seemed that the worst that might -happen to me would be that I should have to get out and walk, and of -course get rather wet in the process. Tuan made a great fuss about -them all, “must take care” but the worst {335}one of all he was so -exceedingly grave over that I felt at least we were risking our valuable -lives. It was inside the wall and was called “Racing Horse Rapid” but it -wasn't very bad. I have been up much worse rapids on the Volta, in -West Africa, and nobody seemed to think they were anything out of the -ordinary, but then the negro has not such a rooted objection to water as -the Chinaman apparently has. My crew had to get wet, up to their waists -sometimes, and it was a little rough on them--I remembered it in their -_cumshaw_--that having a woman on board their modesty did not allow them -to strip, and they went in with all their clothes on. - -The Wall, broken for the passing of the river, is always a wonder, and -here it was wonderful as ever. We stopped here for a little in order, -as far as I could make out, that Tuan might get some ragged specimens of -humanity to pluck a couple of chickens, being too grand a gentleman -to do it himself, and for a brief space the foreshore was white with -feathers, for the thrifty Chinaman, who finds a use for everything, once -he has made feather dusters has no use for feathers. Feather pillows he -knows not. But for once Tuan's skill in putting the work he was paid for -doing, off on to other people, failed either to amuse or irritate me. -I had eyes for nothing but the Wall--the Wall above all other walls -still--for all it is in ruins. As we went down the river it followed -along the tops of the highest hills for over a mile. Always the Wall -cuts the skyline. There is never anything higher than the Wall. And -here, as if this river valley must be extra well guarded, on every -accessible peak was a watch-tower. They are all in ruins now, but they -speak {336}forcibly of the watch and ward that was kept here once. -There was one square ruin on the highest peak. As evening fell, heavy, -threatening clouds gathered and it stood out against them. As we went -far down the valley it was always visible, now to the right of us, now -to the left, as the river wound, and when I thought it was gone in the -gathering gloom, a jagged flash of lightning, out of the black cloud -behind it, illumined it again, and for the moment I forgot that it was -ruined, and thought only what an excellent vantage-point those old-time -builders had chosen. All the country round must see the beacon fire -flaring there. And again I thought of the signals that must have gone -up, “The Mongols are coming down the river. The Manchus are gathering in -the hills.” - -Those heavy clouds bespoke rain, and that night it came down, came down -in torrents, and if there is a more uncomfortable place in which to be -rained upon than a small boat I have yet to find it. Those grass mats -kept off some of the rain, but they were by no means as water-tight as I -should have liked. I spread my burberry over my bed, put up my umbrella, -and stopped up the worst leaks with all the towels I could spare, and -yet the water came in, and on the other side of my calico screen I could -hear the men making a few remarks, which Tuan told me next day were -because, “she no can cook dinner, no can dry clothes.” I had lent them -my charcoal stove, but it was small and would only dry “littee, littee -clothe” so everybody including myself got up next morning in a querulous -mood, and very sorry for themselves. The others at least were earning -their pay, but I wondered how I was {337}going to make money out of -it, and again I questioned the curious fate that sent me wandering -uncomfortably about the world, and sometimes actually--yes actually -getting enjoyment out of it. - -I didn't enjoy that day, however. We went on a little and at length -we stopped, all the country was veiled in soft moist grey mist, the -perpetual sunshine of Northern China was gone, and Tuan and the boatman -came to me. They proposed, of all the Chinese things in this world to -do, to go back! Why I don't know now, for to go back meant going against -the stream and towing the boat! A very much harder job than guiding it -down stream, where it would go of its own weight. I have not often put -my foot down in China. I have always found it best to let my servants, -or those I employed, go about things their own way, but this was too -much for me. I made it clearly understood that the boat belonged to me -for the time being, and that back I would not go. - -Tuan murmured something about some place “she get dry” and I quite -agreed looking at the shivering wretches, but that place had got to be -ahead, not behind us. However, go on they would not, so we pulled up -against the bank and all four of them cowered over the little charcoal -stove till I feared lest they would be asphyxiated with the fumes. I got -in my bed, pulled my eiderdown round me, and thanked Providence I had -it, a sleeping bag, and a burberry, and then as best I could I dodged -the drops that came through the matting, but I knew I wasn't nearly so -uncomfortable as my men. At last the rain lifted a little, and three -rueful figures pulled us down to a small, a very {338}small temple -wherein they lighted a fire and cooked themselves a warm meal. By that -time the rain had gone, and they were smiling and cheerful once more. - -As the result of that rain the river rose three feet, the rapids were -easier than ever to go over, only of course there was the risk of -hitting the rocks that were now submerged, and the waters were muddier -than ever. I felt as if all those mountain-sides were being washed down -into the Lanho, as they probably were. All along the banks, too, the -people were collected gathering--not driftwood, for there was none, but -driftweed, gathering it in with rakes and dipping-in baskets, holding -them out for the water to run away and using the residuum “for burn,” as -Tuan put it. It was dreary, wet, grey, cold. The country grew flatter -as we came down the river, the hills receded; we were in an agricultural -country which was benefiting, I doubt not, by this rain, but with the -mountains went the stern grandeur, and cold rain on a flat country is -uninspiring. Besides breakfast before five-thirty leaves a long day -before one, and the incidents were so small. I watched the captain -steering and refreshing himself with a bite at a pink radish as large -and as long as a parsnip, and it looked cold and uninviting. Surely I -ought to be thankful that Fate had not caused me to be born a Chinese of -the working classes. - -The captain had a large cash-box which reposed trustfully at the end of -my bed. Not that I could have got into it, for it was fastened with -the sort of padlock that I should put on park gates, and I certainly -couldn't have carried it away, at least not unbeknownst, for it was a -cube of at least eighteen inches. It gave me the idea of great wealth, -for never in my life do I expect to require a cash-box like that. If I -did I should give up story writing and grow old with a quiet mind. But -then I do not take my earnings in copper cash. - -[Illustration: 478] - -More and more as we went along the river was I reminded of my idea -of Babylon--Babylon with the romance taken out of it, Babylon grown -commonplace. At one place we stopped at, there came down to the ferry -a short fat man in blue, in a large straw hat, leading a donkey. But he -belonged to no age, he was Sancho Panza to the life. Again there came -a gentleman mounted on a mule, his servant following slowly on a small -grey donkey. He was nicely dressed in darkish petticoats, and his -servant wore the usual blue. They stood on the river-bank and the -servant hailed the ferry. With a little difficulty the beasts were got -on board and the boat poled across. It was just a wupan like my own, -decked in the middle so that the animals would not have to step down. -The donkey came off as if it were all in the day's work, but the -mule was obstinate, and it took the entire population of that little -crossing-place, including Tuan and my boatmen, to hoist him off. The -person most interested, the rider, never stirred a finger. True son -of Babylon was he. “Let the slaves see to all things,” I imagine him -saying. There was a little refreshment booth, and a man selling long -fingers of paste, or rather fried batter. My captain handled one -thoughtfully and then put it back. - -“Doesn't he like it?” I asked Tuan. It seemed to me so much nicer than -the pink radish. - -“She like,” said Tuan, “too much monies. Very dear,” and I think I could -have bought up the whole {340}stock in trade for twenty cents, about -fivepence, so the cash-box was a fraud after all. - -Now the hills had receded into the dim distance there were no more -rapids, and I was back on the great alluvial plain of Northern China -once more. The sun came out in all his glory, there were innumerable -boats, and the evening sunlight gleamed on their white sails. Many of -them were full of people, with many women amongst them, and Tuan told me -it was the Dragon Boat Festival. - -And then, as the evening shadows were falling, we came to the port of -Lanchou and my journey in a wupan was ended. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX--A RIVER PORT IN BABYLON - -{341} - -_The question of squeeze--Batter fingers for the boatmen--An array -of damp scarecrows--Ox carts--Prehistoric wheels--A decadent -people--Beggars--The playing of a part--A side show--Cumshaw._ - -|They tell me I must not talk about a river port in Babylon, because -Babylon was a city not a country, and it had no river port, but in that -valley of Mesopotamia there must have been in those old days, little -places where the people living along the banks landed their produce, or -gathered it in, and I think they must have resembled this river port of -Lanchou in Chihli, to which I came one still pleasant evening in June. - -The sun was on the point of setting, and I consulted Tuan about where I -should go for the night. The inns, he opined, would be full, for all the -country-side had come to the feast, and, in truth, I did not hanker much -after a Chinese inn. I infinitely preferred the wupan, even at its very -worst, when the rain was coming through the matting. I only wondered if -Tuan and the boatmen would think it extremely undignified of me to stay -where I was. The worst I knew there were the cockroaches, and Heaven -only knew what I might find in a Chinese inn in June. {342}Apparently -Tuan did not think it undignified, and the boatmen of course were glad. - -“You pay him one dollar,” suggested Tuan. Now a dollar is a thousand -cash, and a thousand cash, I suppose would about fill that money-box of -his. He got the dollar, because I paid it him myself, but what squeeze -Tuan extracted I am sure I don't know. Some he did get, I suppose as of -right, for squeeze seems to be the accepted fact in China. - -A woman once told me how she was offered squeeze and a good big squeeze -too. - -She was head of a hospital, and being an attractive young person, -she used to go out pretty often for motor drives with the locomotive -superintendent of the nearest railway. The Chinese took note of this, -as apparently they do of all things likely to concern them, and one day -there called upon her a Chinaman, well-dressed, of the better class. He -stood at the door of her sitting-room, shaking his own hands, and bowed -three times. - -“What do you want?” said she, for she had never to her knowledge, seen -him before. - -He spoke as good English, almost as she did herself, and he said, -well it was a little matter in which she might be of service to him, -and--yes--he of service to her. - -She looked at him in astonishment. “But I don't know you,” she said, -puzzled and surprised. - -It was a matter of oil, he said at last, when he got to the point. It -was well known that the engines required a great deal of oil, and he had -several thousands of tons of oil for sale. {343}“But what has that to do -with me?” asked the girl, more surprised than ever. - -He bowed again. “You are a great friend of ------” - -“But how do you know that?” - -“Oh pardon,” his hand on his heart, “Chinaman know everything. You can -help me.” - -“How?” she said still wondering. - -“You speak to Mr -------. He buy oil,” and he looked at her -ingratiatingly. - -She stared at him, hardly knowing whether to be angry or not. - -“I have nothing to do with the locomotives.” - -“Oh, but it will pay you,” said he, and from each side out of a -long pocket he drew two heavy bags, and planked them down on her -writing-table. Still she did not understand what he was driving at. - -“For you,” said he, “for a few words.” - -“Why, you are offering me squeeze,” said she indignantly, as the full -meaning of the thing flashed on her. - -He made a soothing sound with his mouth. “Everybody does it,” said he. - -“Indeed I don't.” - -“Not enough?” said he. “There is five hundred and fifty dollars there,” - and he looked at her questioningly. “Well,” thoughtfully, “I can make it -two hundred dollars more, I have much oil,” and down went another bag of -silver. More than six months' salary was on the table. - -“And suppose,” said she, curious, “Mr -------- pays no attention to me.” - -“That would be unfortunate,” with a low bow, “but I think not. I have -much oil. I take risk.” {344}Then she rose up wrathfully. “Take it -away,” she said, “take it away. How dare you offer me squeeze!” And he -did take it away, and as he probably knew her salary to the very last -penny, thought her a fool for her pains. - -I don't know whether Tuan extracted his squeeze beforehand, but I know -all three boatmen had the long fingers of batter fried in lard for -their breakfast the next morning, for I saw them having them, and Tuan -informed me with a grin, “Missie pay dollar. Can do,” and I was very -glad I had not patronised the Chinese inn. - -Of course I rose very early. Before half-past four I was up and dressed -and peeping out of my little tent at the rows and rows of boats that lay -double-banked against the shore. The sun got up as early as I did, and -most of those people in the boats were up before him. The boats were own -sisters to the one in which I had come down the river, with one mast, -and shelters in the middle, and all the people had suffered, as we had -done, from wet, for such a drying day I have never before seen. All the -sails of course had to be dried, all the mats, the dilapidated bedding, -and it seemed most of the clothing, for padded blue coats and trousers -were stuck on sticks, or laid out in the sun. All the scarecrows that -ever I had known, had apparently come to grief on that double-banked -row of boats. The banks were knee-deep in mud, but it was sandy mud that -soon dried, and by six o'clock business on that shore was in full swing. -There was a theatre and fair going on close at hand, but business had to -be attended to all the same. These boatmen all still wear the queue, -so the barber was very busy, as it is of course impossible to shave on -board a boat, and even the immaculate Tuan had a fine crop of bristles -all over his head. They were gone before he gave me breakfast this -morning. The alluvial mud of the shore was cut into deep cart ruts, and -there were any number of carts coming down to the boats and going away -from them. There were ox carts with a solitary ox, harnessed much as -a horse would be and looking strange to me, accustomed to the bullock -drays of Australia with their bullocks, ten or twenty of them drawing -by a single wooden yoke, there were mule carts and carts heavy with -merchandise drawn by a mixed team of mule, ox, and the small and patient -donkey, and the people took from the boats their loading of grain, grown -far away in Mongolia, of stones, gathered by the river-bank, water-worn -stones used for making the picturesque garden and courtyard paths the -Chinese love, and even sometimes for building, and of osiers, grown -up in the mountains. There were piles and piles of these, and men were -carrying them slung on the ends of their bamboos. And the boats, for -the return journey were loaded, as far as I could see, with salt and the -thin tissue paper they use everywhere for the windows, it is much more -portable than glass, and cotton stuffs, such as even the poorest up in -the mountains must buy for their clothing. And because it was the Dragon -Boat Feast, I suppose, many of the boats were full of passengers, people -who had started thus early to make a day of it, innumerable small-footed -women and small, shavenheaded children, what little there was left of -their hair done up in tiny plaits, that stood straight out on end. And -all had on their best clothing. Even {346}the gentleman whose picture -I have taken standing under a tree had on a new hat of the brightest -yellow matting, and I wondered whether the poorer folk who thronged -the river-side in Mesopotamia, so many long centuries ago, were not -something like him. The only thing that was modern was the railway -station and rolling stock, just behind the river-side town, and the -great iron bridge that spans the river. Modern civilisation come to -Babylon. It has barely touched the surface though of this age-old -civilisation. The people who came crowding into the feast came in carts -with heavy wooden wheels, Punch's prehistoric wheels, exactly as their -ancestors came, possibly three thousand years ago, and the carts were -drawn by mules, by oxen, by donkeys, and were covered, some with the -ordinary blue cloth, some with grass matting, and sometimes, when they -were open, the women carried umbrellas of Chinese oiled paper, with here -and there one of ordinary European pattern. And the carts were packed -very close together indeed, for there were numberless women, and the -majority of them could only just totter along. For them to walk far or -for long, would be a sheer impossibility. Country people? No, again I -saw it strongly, these were serfs, perhaps, but not country people, they -were a highly civilised people, far more highly civilised than I am who -sit in judgment, so civilised that they were decadent, effete, and every -woman was helpless! - -They crowded round the theatricals that were going on there in the open, -and all the stalls were crowded together round them too. These sellers -cannot afford to spread themselves out when half of {347}the likely -buyers must needs be stationary. Never have I seen so many Chinese women -of the well-to-do class together before. They wore their gayest silks -and satins and embroidered coats, their hair was elaborately dressed and -decked with flowers, their faces were painted and powdered, and usually -there was on them the faintest of impassive smiles. Poor women of modern -Babylon, maimed and crippled! It was rather a relief to look at the -beggars, and there were many of them, who, clad in sacking and filthy -rags, with wild black hair, beat their foreheads in the dust, and made -loud moan of their sufferings. Everyone plays his part properly in -China. It is the beggars' to make loud moan, it is the women's to give -no hint of the cruel suffering that has made childhood and youth a -torture, and left the dreadful aftermath behind it. - -[Illustration: 0488] - -I had plenty of time to see everything, for the train was not due till -eleven, and when it grew too hot to stay in the open any longer, I went -on to the platform and sat in the shade, and formed a sort of side show -to the fair, for so many people crowded round to look at the foreign -woman, and they had more than what a servant of one of my friends called -“a littee stink,” that at last the station policeman, who was really a -soldier guarding the line, came and cleared them away drastically -with drawn sword, and I explained, as best I could, that on this great -occasion, I hadn't the least objection to being a show, for very likely -many of these people had come from beyond the beaten tracks, from places -where foreigners were scarce, but I must have sufficient air. - -Tuan got the tickets, and then I suppose, seeing his time was short, for -we should be in Peking by seven, and should certainly part, he relieved -his mind and asked a question that had evidently been burning there ever -since we had left the mission station. - -“Missie have pay mission boys _cumshaw?_” - -Now the _cumshaw_ had been a difficulty. - -My hostess had come to me and said: “I know you are going to give a -_cumshaw_. I may as well tell you that if our visitors don't we always -do ourselves, because the servants expect it, but I am come to beg of -you not to give too much and to give it through us. In fact the cook -went for his holiday last night and we gave him eighty cents and said it -was from you.” - -“Eighty cents!” I was afraid those servants would think me very mean. -But my hostess was very fluent on the subject, and very determined. The -majority of their visitors could not possibly afford to give much, and -they were very anxious not to establish a precedent. What was I to do? I -might have supplemented it through Tuan, but I felt it would be making -a poor return to the people who had been so kind to me, so I was obliged -to let it go at that. - -“I pay Missie, she give _cumshaw_ for me,” said I to Tuan. - -“Ah!” said that worthy, as if he had settled a doubt satisfactorily in -his own mind, “boy say Missie pay eighty cent, I say, not my Missie, she -give five, ten dollar, always give five, ten dollar, your Missie give -eighty cent!” - -And as I went on my way to Peking, across the plain in its summer dress -of lush green kaoliang, I wondered sorrowfully if all the return I had -made for the kindness received was to have those missionaries accused of -pocketing the _cumshaw_ I was supposed to have given. - -But I was glad to come back, glad not to think any more of the Chinaman -as a creature whose soul had to be saved, glad to come back to my -ordinary associates who were ordinarily worldly and selfish, and -felt that they might drink a whisky-and-soda and consider their own -enjoyment, though there were a few hundred million people in outer -darkness around them. The majority of us cannot live in the rarefied -atmosphere that demands constant sacrifice and abnegation for the sake -of those we do not and cannot love. - - - - -CHAPTER XX--THE WAYS OF THE CHINESE SERVANT - -{350} - -_The heat of Peking---The wall by moonlight--Tongshan--“Your devoted -milkman”--The eye of the mistress--A little fort--In case of an -outbreak--The Temple of the Sleeping Buddha--A runaway bride--The San -Shan An--My own temple courtyard--The missing outfit--The Language -Officer--Friends in need._ - -|It was David, I think, who said in his haste, that all men are liars, -but I suppose he was right, if he meant as he probably did, that at one -time or another, we are all of us given to making rash statements. I -expect it would be a rash statement to say that Peking in the summer is -the hottest place in the world, and that the heat of West Africa, that -much-maligned land, is nothing to it, and yet, even when I think over -the matter at my leisure, I know that the heat, for about six weeks, -is something very hard to bear. I suspect it is living in a stone house -inside the city walls that makes it so hot. Could I have slept in the -open I might have taken a different view. I slept, or rather I did not -sleep, with two windows wide open, and an electric fan going, but, since -Peking mosquitoes are of the very aggressive order, bred in the imperial -canal, the great open drain that runs through the city, it was always -necessary to keep the mosquito curtains drawn. If anyone doubts that -a house with mosquito-proof {351}windows and doors is an airless -death-trap, let him try and sleep under mosquito curtains, while hoping -for a breath of cool air from the electric fan. Fully half the air is -cut off, but as the mosquito curtains are raised during the daytime, the -air over the bed is renewed daily. In that abomination a mosquito-proof -house, it is never renewed. - -Since it was a choice between little air and plenty of mosquitoes. I -chose the shortage of air, and generally went to bed with a deep soup -plate full of cold water, and a large sponge. It made the bed decidedly -wet, but that was an advantage. - -I did not go away because the war had started between the North and the -South, and no one knew exactly what was going to happen. To be at the -heart of things is often to be too close, wiser eyes than mine saw -nothing. Once there was a rumour that the Southern army would march on -Peking, and that promised excitement, but in the city itself, though -there was martial law, there was no excitement, and the only pleasant -thing to do was to go on moonlight evenings and sit on the wall. There -was a cool breath of air there, if there was anywhere, and at any rate -the moonlight lent it a glamour, and the fireflies, that came out after -the rain, gave the added touch that made it fairyland. - -But at last the heat was too much even for me, who am not wont to -complain of whatever sort of weather is doled out to me, and I accepted -the invitation of a friend to stay at Tongshan, which is a great railway -centre, a place where there is a coal mine, and some large cement works -run by capable and efficient Germans. - -And at Tongshan I lived in the house that was {352}held for defence -during the Boxer trouble. The barrier at the gate--the barrier that is -at the gate of all Chinese houses, to keep off evil spirits, who can -only move in a straight line--was so curious that I took a photograph -of it, and against the walls that surround the grounds were the look-out -places which the railwaymen manned, and from which they kept watch and -ward. - -I have always liked the feeling of living in a fort--a place where men -have helped to make history, but I have observed that it is always -the immediate trifle that is to the fore that counts, and my friend's -servants were a perpetual joy and delight to me. They used to write -her letters. There was one, a touching one, from the milkman I shall -remember with joy. A “cunningful” cook had misrepresented him, and he -wished to be taken into favour again, and he signed himself distractedly -“Your devoted milkman.” The cow was brought round so that it might be -milked before the eyes of the buyer, and only a Chinaman, surely, would -have been capable of concealing a bottle of water up his sleeves and -letting it run slowly down his arm as he milked, so that the cow was -unjustly accused of giving very poor milk. Besides, when the cow's -character was cleared, who knew from where that water had been taken, -and how much dirt it had washed off the arm down which it ran. No -pleading took that milkman into favour again, despite the tenderness -expressed in his signature. Another man had been away, and returning, -wished a small job as watchman at six dollars a month, and begging for -it by letter, he signed himself fervently “Your own Ah Foo.” But the -crowning boy was the No. 1 boy. He was a {353}delicious person without -intending it. When first my friend engaged him, she acquired at the same -time a small dog, and she soon realised that the rigorous Chinese winter -was hard on dogs, and that Ben must have a little coat. The question was -how to make the coat. No. 1 boy came to the rescue. - -Mr ------ at the railway station had a dog, and “Marcus,” said the boy, -“have two coats.” - -“Oh well borrow one and copy it,” said his mistress, relieved. - -“My tink,” said the boy confidentially, and he sank his voice, “Missie -bolly, more better not send back.” And he looked at her to see if this -wisdom would sink in. - -“Boy!” - -“Marcus have two coats,” repeated he reproachfully. - -[Illustration: 0496] - -The owner of Marcus, on the story being told to him, when the coat was -borrowed with every assurance it should be returned, admitted that if -occasionally he saw among his accounts a coat for Marcus he always paid -for it, and supposed the old one had worn out. Thinking it over, he -thought perhaps he had supplied a friend or two, or more possibly his -friends' servants. No. 1 boy made a mistake in taking his mistress into -his confidence, instead of charging her for “one piecey dog coat.” - -But, of course that is the trouble with Missies, as compared with -Masters, they have such inquiring minds. There was once a man of violent -temper who was in the habit of letting off steam on his No. 1 boy. He -abused him roundly, and even beat him whenever he felt out of sorts, yet -greatly to the surprise of all his friends, the boy put up with him, and -made him a very excellent servant. Presently he married, and then, much -to his surprise, before a month was out the boy, who had been faithful -and long-suffering for so long, came and gave notice. - -“But why?” asked the astonished man. - -“Master beat,” said the boy laconically. - -“D----n it,” said the man, “I've beaten you a dozen times before. Why -do you complain now?” - -“Before time,” explained the boy solemnly, “when Master beat, my put -down one dollar, sugar, one dollar flour. Now Missie come, no can. My -go.” - -He did not mind a beating so long as he could make his master pay for -it, but when an inquiring mistress questioned these little items for -groceries that she knew had never been used, he gave up the place, he -could no longer get even with his master. It was a truly Chinese way of -looking at things. - -These were some of the stories they told me in the house they had -fortified against the Boxers and held till the ships sent them a guard. -And once the sailors came there was no more danger, It was the luckless -country people who feared. The older men pitied and understood the -situation, but the mischievous young midshipmen took a fearful joy in -scaring the problematical enemy. - -“Who goes there?” - -“Belong my,” answered the shivering coolie, endeavouring to slip past, -and in deadly terror that the pointed rifle would go off. They were -ground between two millstones those unfortunate peasants. The Boxers -harried them, and then the foreigners came and avenged their wrongs on -these who had done probably no harm. Always it is these helpless serfs -who suffer in case of war. Other classes may suffer--these are sure to. - -They will never hold this house again should necessity arise, for the -well that gave them water has gone dry. - -Of course everyone hopes and says, that the necessity never will arise -again but for all that, they are not, the foreign settlers in China, -quite as certain of their safety as one would be in a country town in -England, for instance. They came in to afternoon tea and tennis, men -and women, and they gave all attention to the amusement in hand, a -lighthearted, cheerful set of people, and then one little speech and one -saw there was another side. There was always the _might be_. Everything -was going on as usual, everywhere around were peaceable, subservient -people, and yet--and yet terrible things had happened in the past, -who could say if they would not happen again. Every now and again, not -dominating the conversation, but running a subcurrent to it, would -come up the topic of the preparations they had made in case of “another -outbreak.” - -One woman kept a box of clothes at Tientsin. - -“I wonder you don't,” she said looking at her hostess. “No, my dear, -don't you remember yet, I never take sugar. Thank you. You ought to -think about it, you know. It is really so awkward if one has to rush -away in a hurry to find oneself without clothes.” - -Another woman laughed, and yet she was very much in earnest. - -“That's not the first thing to worry about. There, that was vantage to -them,” she interpolated, taking an interest in the game of tennis, “that -young {356}woman's going to make a nice little player. No, what I think -is that the place they have chosen to hold is far too far away. Want -your clothes in Tientsin? I'm not at all sure you'll get over that mile -and a half from your house in safety, and I've farther still to go, -with two little children too. Why don't you get your husband to------ Oh -there they've finished! Now have I time for another set?” - -“It's after six.” - -“Good gracious! And baby to bath! I must go. You speak to your husband -about another place, my dear. He'll have some influence.” - -“No, I wouldn't try to hold any place again,” said my host, thinking -of the past, “I should be on the train and off to Tientsin at the first -hint of danger.” - -“But suppose you couldn't get away in time?” - -“Well, of course, that's possible,” he said thoughtfully, “and the -Chinese are beggars at pulling up railways.” - -I listened, and then I understood how people get used to contemplating a -danger that is only possible, and not actually impending. - -“If anything happens to Yuan Shih K'ai,” but then, of course, though -that is not only a possible, but even a probable danger, everyone hopes -that nothing will happen to Yuan Shih K'ai, just as if anything did -happen to him, they would hope things would not be as bad as they had -feared, and if their worst fears were realised, then they would hope -that they would be the lucky ones who would not be overwhelmed. This -is human nature, at least one side of human nature, the side of human -nature that has made of the British a great colonising people. The -autumn was coming, the golden, glowing {357}autumn of Northern China, -so, coming back to Peking, I determined to find out some place where I -could enjoy its beauties and write the book which my publisher expected. -Most people seem to think that the writing of a book is a mere question -of plenty of time, a good pen, paper, and ink. “You press the button, we -do the rest,” promises a certain firm that makes cameras; but I do not -find either writing or taking photographs quite so simple a matter as -all that. To do either, even as well as I can, I want to be by myself, -for I am a sociable being, I do love the society of my kind, to talk to -them, to exchange ideas with them, and when I am doing that, I cannot -give the time and attention it requires to writing. Everyone who writes -in China, and anyone who writes at all is moved to take pen in hand -to try and elucidate its mysteries, wants to write in a temple in the -Western Hills. I was no exception to the rule. The Western Hills, whose -rugged outlines you can see from Peking, called me, and I set out -to look for a temple. It was going to be easy enough to get one, for -“Legation” Peking goes to the hills in the summer, and when autumn holds -the land goes back to the joys of city life. - -The first I inspected was the Temple of the Sleeping Buddha, a temple -which has many courtyards, and a figure of the Buddha, peacefully -sleeping. An emblem of peace looks the great bronze figure. He is, of -course, represented clothed, only his feet are bare, and the faithful -bring him offerings of shoes, rows and rows of shoes there were on a -shelf at the side of the temple, some colossal, three or four feet long, -and some tiny, some made after the fashion of the ordinary Chinese shoe, -of silk or {358}quilted satin, but some make-believe, and very excellent -make-believe, of paper. Looking at them I could not have told the -difference, and as the Buddha's eyes are shut, he could not even go -as far as that. He certainly could not put them on, for his feet are -pressed closely together, the feet of a profoundly sleeping man. All is -peace here. Here there is no trouble, no anxiety, that sleeping figure -seems to say. - -But there was for all that. Where in the world is there no trouble? - -[Illustration: 0504] - -It takes about three and a half hours to reach the Sleeping Buddha -Temple from Peking. First I took a rickshaw across the city. Then from -the northwest gate, the Hsi Chih Men, still by rickshaw, I went to the -Summer Palace, and I did the remaining five miles into the heart of the -hills on a donkey. I don't like riding a donkey, five miles on a donkey -on an uncomfortable Chinese saddle, riding astride, wearies me to death, -and when I was just thinking life was no longer worth living I arrived, -and wandered into a courtyard where, at the head of some steps, stood a -little Chinese girl. She was dressed in the usual dress of a girl of the -better classes, a coat and trousers, like a man usually wears with us, -only the coat had a high collar standing up against her cheeks, and -because she was unmarried, she wore her hair simply drawn back from -her face and plaited in a long tail down her back, much as an English -schoolgirl wears it. She made me a pretty, shy salutation, and called to -her friend the Englishwoman, who had rented the courtyard, and who -was living here while she painted pictures. This lady was returning -to Peking she said, next day, but she {359}very kindly invited me to -luncheon, and she told me the Chinese girl's story. She was practically -in hiding. She had been betrothed, of course, years before to some boy -she had never seen, and this year the time had arrived for the carrying -out of the contract. But young China is beginning to think it has rights -and objects to being disposed of in marriage without even a chance to -protest. It would not be much good the boy running away, however much -he objected to the matrimonial plans his family had made for him, for he -could be married quite easily in his absence, a cock taking his place; -but it beats even the Chinese to have a marriage without a bride, -therefore the girl had run away. The time was past and the contract had -not been carried out. Poor little girl! It surprised me that so shy and -quiet a little girl had found courage to defy authority and run away, -even though she had found out that her betrothed was as averse from the -marriage as she was. She had unbound her feet, as if to signalise her -freedom; but alas, the arch of her foot was broken, and she could never -hope to be anything but flat-footed, still that was better than walking -with stiff knees, on her heels, as if her legs were a couple of wooden -pegs like the majority of her fellow-countrywomen. The woman who was -befriending her suggested, as I was taking a temple in the hills, I -should give her sanctuary. That was all very well, but the care of -a helpless being, like a Chinese girl, is rather an undertaking. I -consulted a friend who had been in China many years, and he was emphatic -on the subject. - -“No, no, no. Never have anything to do with a woman in China until -she is well over forty. You {360}don't know the trouble you will let -yourself in for. Chinese women!” And he held up his hands. So it appears -that the secluded life does not make them all that they ought to be. - -However, while I was considering the matter, some woman in Peking, -kinder and less cautious than I, stepped in and the little girl has -found an asylum, and is, I am assured by a friend, all right, and better -off than hundreds of her people. True she easily might be that, and yet -not have attained to much. - -I always seem to be talking of the condition of the Chinese women, like -King Charles's head, it comes into everything. After all, the condition -and status of half the nation must be always cropping up when one -considers the people at all. “Chinese women,” said a man, “are -past-mistresses in false modesty.” And again I thought what a commentary -on a nation. To Western eyes how it marks the subjection and the -ignorance of the women. - -When the first baby is coming, the bride is supposed, though it would be -a tragedy beyond all words if she had no children, to be too shy to tell -her husband, or even her mother-in-law, so she puts on bracelets, and -then the family know that this woman, at least, is about to fulfil her -destiny. I hope the little Chinese girl I found up in the Temple of the -Sleeping Buddha will yet marry, marry someone she chooses herself, will -not need to pluck out the front hairs on her forehead, and will be on -such terms with her husband, that though she may with pride put on the -bracelets, she may rejoice openly that their love is crowned. I do not -think there will be any false modesty about her. {361}But I did not take -a courtyard in the Sleeping Buddha Temple. It was rented by the Y.M.C.A. -and I think that, combined with the donkey ride, put me off. I felt -I would rather go farther afield, farther away from the traces of the -foreigner, and I could have my pick of temples in September. I took the -San Shan An, in another valley, one of the lovely valleys of the world. - -The San Shan An is only a small temple with a central courtyard and -two or three smaller ones, and I agreed to take it for the sum of -twenty-eight dollars a month. I engaged a cook and a boy, the boy's -English was scanty and the cook had none, but I only paid the two -twenty-four dollars a month, six dollars less than the valued Tuan had -all to himself, and one day in September I saw my household gods on to -two carts, went myself by train, and got out at the first station at the -Western Hills. - -I had taken the precaution, as I had no Chinese, and I did not expect -to meet anybody who understood English, to have the name of the temple -written out in Chinese characters, and descending from the train, after -a little trouble I found one among the wondering crowd who could read, -and all that crowd, a dirty little crowd, took an interest in my further -movements. They immediately supplied me with donkeys and boys to choose -from, and I had the greatest difficulty in explaining that I did not -want a donkey, all I wanted was a guide. The only one who seemed to -grasp it was a very ragged individual who, with basket under his -arm, and scoop in hand, was gathering manure. He promptly seized my -dispatch-box, all the luggage I carried, and we started, pursued by -disappointed boys with donkeys, {362}who could not believe that the -foreign woman was actually going to walk in the wake of a man who -gathered manure. I must confess it was a most humble procession, even in -my eyes, who am not accustomed to standing on my dignity. My only sister -had given me that dispatch-case as a parting present, and it looked -wonderfully rich and cultured in the very grimy hand that grasped it -so triumphantly. I should never have had the heart to turn that old -man away, he looked so pleased at having got a job. Off he went, and -we walked for over an hour across a flat and rough country, where the -kaoliang had been gathered on to the threshing floors, and all the -people this gorgeous hot autumn day were at work there. - -A threshing floor in the East makes one think of Ruth and Boaz, and -possibly these people were not unlike those who worked on that threshing -floor in Judah so long ago, only they were dirty and poor, and not -comely as we picture the Moabitish beauty. It was hot as we walked, and -I grew a little doubtful as we approached the hills--were we going in -the right direction. - -“San Shan Erh,” said my guide, and he repeated it, and I grew more -doubtful, for I did not know then that these hill people say, “San Shan -Erh” where a more cultivated man would say “San Shan An,” it is -very Pekingese to have many “r's” to roll. He combined business with -pleasure, or rather he combined his business, and whenever he came -across a patch of manure, he gathered it in, and I waited patiently. At -last we came to the entrance of a well-wooded valley, and a well-wooded -valley is a precious thing in China, and we went up a roughly -{363}flagged pathway, flagged, I dare say, a couple of hundred years ago -or more, a steep pathway by a graveyard, and between the trees that were -just taking on a tinge of autumn gold, we arrived at a plateau built -up with stones, and along beneath some trees we entered a gate and -came into a square brick paved courtyard surrounded by low, one-storied -buildings, and with four pine-trees raising their dark green branches -against the deep blue sky. I had seen so many temple courtyards, and -now here was one, that for a space, was to be my very own. In China, -it seems, the gods always make preparation for taking in guests--at a -price. - -[Illustration: 0510] - -But was this my temple? - -My heart sank, as for a moment I realised what a foolish thing I had -done. I had supposed, after my usual fashion, that everything would go -smoothly for me, and now at the very outset, things were going wrong, -and I knew I was helpless. Two men in blue, of the coolie class, old, -and very, very dirty, looked at me, and talked unintelligibly to my -guide, and he, very intelligibly, demanded his _cumshaw_, but there was -no sign of my possessions. - -For the moment I feared, feared greatly, I was entirely alone, what -might not happen to me? I might not even have been brought to the right -temple, for all I knew. In bridge, when doubtful they say play to win, -so I decided I must act as if everything was all right, and I paid my -guide his _cumshaw_, saw him go, and not quite as happy as I should have -liked to have been, inspected the temple. There was one big room that I -decided would do me for a living-room, if this were really my temple, as -it had a sort of little veranda or {364}look-out place, which stood out -on the cliff side overlooking the place of tombs, and the plain where in -the distance, about twelve miles as the crow flies, I could see in the -clear atmosphere the walls of Peking. They might as well have been a -hundred, I thought ruefully, for all the help I was likely to get from -that city to-night, if this were not really my temple. - -A Chinese temple is sparsely furnished. All the rooms had stone floors, -all of them opened into the courtyard and not into one another, and for -all furniture there were the usual k'angs, two cupboards, three tables, -and three uncomfortable Chinese chairs. I had hired an easy chair, a -lamp, and with my camp outfit I expected to manage. But where was my -camp outfit? - -I could not understand a word of what the people said, but they seemed -friendly, they well might be, I thought, I was entirely at their mercy, -and a very dirty old gentleman with claw-like hands, an unshaven head, -and the minutest of queues came and contemplated me in a way which was -decidedly disconcerting. I went and looked at the gods, dusty and dirty -too in their sanctuaries. There was a most musical bell alongside one of -them and when I struck it, the clang seemed to emphasise my loneliness -and helplessness. Could this be the right temple? If it was not where -was I to go? There was no means of getting back to Peking, short of -walking, even then the gates must be shut long before I arrived. As far -as I knew, there was no foreigner left in the hills. I went on to the -look-out place, and looked out over the plain, and the old man came and -looked at me, and I grew more and more uncomfortable. {365}Tiffin time -was long past, afternoon tea time came and went. It had been warm enough -in the middle of the day, but the evenings grow chill towards the end of -September, and I had only a white muslin gown on. At the very best the -prospect of sleeping on one of those cold and stony k'angs did not look -inviting. I could have cried as the shadows grew long and the sun set. - -And then, oh joy, down beneath me, out on the hill-side, I heard a -voice, an unmistakable American voice. I had been terrified, and like a -flash my terrors rolled away. I looked over and there were a man and a -woman taking an evening stroll, very much at home, for neither of them -had on a hat. I forgot in a moment I had been afraid and I hailed them -at once. - -“Is this the San Shan An?” - -“Sure,” said the man as they looked up in surprise. - -Well, that was a relief anyhow, and I thought how foolish I had been to -be afraid. But where were the carts? - -The stranger said they ought to have arrived hours ago, and then they -bid me good-bye, and I waited once more. I was uncomfortable now--I -was no longer afraid. At least not till it grew dark, and then, I must -confess, the place seemed to me strangely eerie. The sun was set, -the moon was old, and not due till the morning, the faint wind moaned -through the pine-branches, and the darkness was full of all sorts of -strange, mysterious, unexplainable sounds. It was cold, cold, and the -morning and the light were a good eleven hours off. - -Then, just as I was in the depths of despair, there {366}was a commotion -in the courtyard, a lantern flashed on the trunks of the pine-trees, and -a kindly American voice out of the darkness said: - -“I thought I had better come down and see if your outfit had turned up.” - -“There is not a sign of it.” I wonder if there was relief in my voice. - -“No, so the people here tell me, and they are in rather a way about -you.” - -So that was why the dirty old gentleman had apparently been stalking me. -It had never occurred to me that these people could be troubled about -me, this was a new and kindly light on Chinese character. - -“Perhaps you'll come along with me,” went on my new friend. “I've got -two ladies staying with me from Tientsin, and they'll do the best they -can for you for the night.” - -Bless him, bless him, I could have hugged him. Go, of course I went -thankfully, and with his lantern, he guided me over the steepest and -roughest of mountain paths till we came to his temple, a much bigger one -than mine. - -“I thought there was no one left in the hills,” I said as we went along. - -“I'm going next week,” he said, “but I love this valley. There is only -one lovelier in the world--the one I was born in.” - -“And where is that?” - -“The Delaware Valley. These people,” he went on, “are mightily relieved -to hear I am going to keep you for the night.” - -Again I thanked him, and indeed he and his friends were friends in -need. “And I cannot make them understand like you do,” I said a little -futilely. {367}“Well, I ought to,” he laughed. “I'm the Language -Officer.” - -He decided my carts had had time to come from Peking and go back again, -and they must have gone up the wrong valley, and he and his friends took -me in and fed me, and comforted me, so that I was ready to laugh at my -woes, and then, just as we were finishing an excellent dinner, there -appeared on the terrace, where we were dining, an agitated individual -with a guttering candle, my boy, whom I hardly knew by sight yet. - -He told a tale of woe and suffering. According to him, the road to Jehol -must have been nothing to that road from Peking to the Western Hills, -and I and my new friends went down to inspect what was left of my -outfit. There wasn't much in it that was smashable, and beyond salad oil -in the bread and kerosene in the salt, there was not much damage done. -I could not understand though how they had come to grief at all, for -the loads were certainly light for two carts, and once in the hills, of -course, the goods were carried by men. And then the truth dawned on me. -It was the way of a Chinese servant all over. I had been foolish enough -to give my boy the five dollars to pay for the two carts. He had made -one do, and pocketed two dollars fifty cents. I asked him if such were -not the case. - -“Yes, sah,” said he, and I wondered, till I found that he always said -“Yes, sah,” whether he understood me or not. More often than not he did -not understand, but that “sah” made me understand he had learned his -little English from a countryman of my friend, the Language Officer. - -And after all I think I was glad of the little adventure. I had not -realised how eerie a temple would be all by myself at night, and it was -good to think that for a night or two at least there would be people of -my own colour within a quarter of an hour of me on the hill-side. - -[Illustration: 0518] - - - - - -CHAPTER XXI--FROM THE SAN SHAN AN - -{369} - -_An old temple--Haunted--Wolf with green eyes--Loneliness--Death -of missionaries--Fear--Sanctuaries--“James Buchanan”--Valiant -farmers--Autumn tints--Famous priest--Sacrifice of disciples--Tree -conserving--Camels at my gate--Servants--“Cook book”--Enchanted -hills--Cricket cages--Kindly people--The fall of Belshazzar--Hope for -the future._ - -|And with two servants and the temple coolies to wait upon me I settled -down in the San Shan An, the Temple of the Three Mountains, the oldest -temple in this valley of temples, built long ago in the Sung Dynasty. -They said it was haunted, haunted by the ghost of a big snake, and when -the mud from the roof fell as so much dust on the stone floor, and over -me, my tables and chairs and bed, my boy stretched out his arms and -explained that the snake had done it. The snake, I found, always -accounted for dust. When my jam and butter disappeared, and -I suspected human agency, he said in his pidgin-English, -“I tink--I tink----” and then words failed him, and he broke out into -spelling, “I tink it R--A--T.” Why he could spell that word and not -pronounce it I do not know, but until I left I did not know that the -snake that lived in my roof was supernatural. I don't think even I could -be afraid of the ghost of a snake. The temple up above, the Language -{370}Officer's temple, was haunted by a wolf with green eyes, and that -would have been a different matter. I am glad I did not dare the wolf -with green eyes. For I was all by myself. The Language Officer, the -Good Samaritan, went back to Peking, and, except at week-ends, when I -persuaded a friend or two to dissipate my loneliness, I was the only -foreigner in the valley. Go back to Peking until the work I had set -myself to do was done, I determined I would not. It has been a curious -and lonely existence away in the hills, in the little temple embosomed -in trees, among a people who speak not a word of my language; but it had -its charm. I had my camp-bed set up on the little platform looking out -over the place of tombs, with the great Peking plain beyond, and there, -while the weather was warm, I had all my meals, and there, warm or cold, -I always slept. When the evening shadows fell I was lonely, I was worse -than lonely, all that I had missed in life came crowding before my eyes, -all the years seemed empty, wasted, all the future hopeless, and I went -to bed and tried to sleep, if only to forget. - -And China is not a good place in which to try the lonely life. There are -too many tragic histories associated with it, and one is apt to remember -them at the wrong times. Was I afraid at night? I was, I think, a -little, but then I am so often afraid, and so often my fears are false, -that I have learned not to pay much attention to them. I knew very well -that the Legations would not have allowed me, without a word of warning, -to take a temple in the hills, had there been any likelihood of danger, -but still, when the evening shadows fell, I could not but remember -{371}once again, Sir Robert Hart's dictum, and that if anything did -happen, I was cut off here from all my kind. It was just Fear, the Fear -that one personifies, but another time, if I elect to live by myself -among an alien people, I do not think I will improve my mind by reading -first any account of the atrocities those people have perpetrated at -no very remote period. As the darkness fell I was apt to start and look -over my shoulder at any unexplainable sound, to remember these things -and to hope they would not happen again, which is first cousin to -fearing they would. At Pao Ting Fu, not far from here as distances -in China go, during the Boxer trouble, the Boxers attacked the -missionaries, both in the north and the south suburb, just outside the -walls of the town. In the north suburb the Boxers and their following -burned those missionaries to death in their houses, because they would -not come out. They dared not. Think how they must have feared, those -men and women in the prime of their life, when they stayed and faced -a cruel death from which there was no escape, rather than chance the -mercies of the mob outside. One woman prayed them to save her baby girl, -her little, tender Margaret, not a year old, her they might kill, and -her husband, and her two little boys, but would no one take pity on the -baby, the baby that as yet could not speak. But though many of those who -heard her prayer and repeated it, pitied, they did not dare help. It -is a notable Chinese characteristic--obedience to orders--and the -lookers-on thought that those in authority having ordered the slaughter -of the missionaries it was not their part to interfere. They told -afterwards how, as a brute rushed up the {372}stairs, the mother, -desperate, seized a pistol that lay to her hand and shot him. I am -always glad she did that. And others told, how, through the mounting -flames, they could see her husband walking up and down, leading his two -little boys by the hand, telling them--ah, what could any man say under -such terrible circumstances as that. - -And in the south suburb the missionary doctor was true almost to the -letter of the faith he preached. As the mob surrounded him, he took a -revolver, showed them how perfect was his command over the weapon, how -he could have dealt death right and left, and then he tossed it aside -and submitted to their wicked will, and they took him and cut off his -head. But the fate of the women always horrified me most. It was that -that seemed most terrible in the dusk of the evening. They took two of -the unmarried women, and one was too terrified to walk--having once seen -a Chinese crowd, filthy, horrible and always filthy and horrible even -when they are friendly, one realises what it must be to be in their -power, one understands that girl's shrinking terror. Her they tied, -hands and feet together, and slung her from a pole, exactly as they -carry pigs to market. Is this too terrible a thing to write down for -everyone to read? It almost seems to me it is. If so forgive me. I used -to think about it those evenings alone in the San Shan An. And one of -those women, they say, was always brave, and gave to a little child her -last little bit of money as she walked to her death, and the other, who -was so terrified at first, recovered herself, and walked courageously as -they led her to execution outside the city walls. - -When I thought of those women I was ashamed [373]of the Fear that made -me afraid to look behind me in the dark, made me listen intently for -unusual sounds, and hear a thousand unexplainable ones. I, in the broad -daylight, went and looked in the two sanctuaries that were at each end -of my courtyard, each with an image and altar in it. In both were -stored great matting bundles of Spanish chestnuts, and in the larger, -oh sacrilege! oh bathos! was my larder, and I saw eggs, and meat, and -cabbage, and onions, coming out of it, but I do not think anything could -have induced me to go into those places after nightfall. I ask myself -why--I wonder--but I find no answer. The gods were only images, the dust -and dirt of long years was upon them, they were dead, dead, and yet I, -the most modern of women was afraid--at night I was afraid, the fear -that seems to grow up with us all was upon me. By and by a friend sent -me out “James Buchanan”--a small black and white k'ang dog, about six -inches high, but his importance must by no means be measured by his -size. I owe much gratitude to James Buchanan for he is a most cheerful -and intelligent companion. I intended to part with him when I left the -hills, but I made him love me, and then to my surprise, I found I loved -him, and he must share my varying fortunes. But what is a wandering -woman, like I am, to do with a little dog? - -[Illustration: 0524] - -We went for walks together up and down the hill-sides, and the people -got to know us, and laughed and nodded as we passed. The Chinese seem -fond of animals, and yet you never see a man out for a walk with his -dog. A man with a bird-cage in his hand, taking birdie for a walk, is a -common {374}sight in China, so common that you forget to notice it, -but I have never seen a man followed by a dog, though most of the -farm-houses appear to have one or two to guard them. Here, in the hills, -they were just the ordinary, ugly _wonks_ one sees in Peking, not nearly -such handsome beasts as I saw up in the mountains. The farms in these -hills evidently require a good deal of guarding, for I would often hear -the crack of a gun. Some farmer, so my friend, the Language Officer, -told me, letting the “stealer man,” and anyone else whom it might -concern, know that he had fire-arms and was prepared to use them. At -first the reports used to startle me, and make me look out into the -darkness of the hill-side, darkness deepened here and there by a tiny -light, and I used to wonder if anything was wrong. “Buchanan” always -regarded those reports as entirely out of place, and said so at the -top of his small voice. But then he was always challenging _wonks_, or -finding “stealer men,” so I paid no attention to him. - -At the first red streak of dawn, for the temple faced the east, I -wakened. And all my fears, the dim, mysterious, unexplainable fears born -of the night, and the loneliness, and the old temple, were gone, rolled -away with the darkness. The crescent moon and the jewelled stars paled -before the sun, rising in a glory of purple and gold, a glory that -brightened to crimson, the pungent, aromatic fragrance of the pines and -firs came to my nostrils, their branches were outlined against the deep -blue of the sky, and I realised gradually that another blue day had -dawned and the world was not empty, but full of the most wonderful -possibilities waiting but to be grasped. Oh those dawnings in the San -Shan An! Those dawnings after a night in the open air! Never shall I -forget them! - -And the valley was lovely that autumn weather. Day after day, day after -day, was the golden sunshine, the clear, deep blue sky, the still, dry, -invigorating air--no wonder everyone with a literary turn yearns to -write a book in a valley of the Western Hills. And this valley of the -San Shan An was the loveliest valley of them all. It, too, is a valley -of temples, to what gods they were set up I know not, by whom they were -set up I know not, only because of the gods and the temples there are -trees, trees in plenty, evergreen firs and pines, green-leaved poplars -and ash-trees, maples and Spanish chesnuts. At first they were green, -these deciduous trees, and then gradually, as autumn touched them -tenderly with his fingers, they took on gorgeous tints, gold and brown, -and red, and amber, the summer dying gloriously under the cloudless blue -sky. They tell me that American woods show just such tints, but I have -not been to America, and I have seen nothing to match this autumn in the -Chinese hills. And I had not thought to see beauty like this in China! - -I counted seven temples, and there were probably more. Up the hill -to the north of my valley, beyond a large temple that I shall -always remember for the quaint and picturesque doorway, that I have -photographed, was a plateau to be reached by a stiff climb, and here -was a ruined shrine where sat calmly looking over the plain, as he had -probably looked in life, the marble figure of a very famous priest of -the long ago. It is ages since this priest {376}lived in the hills, -but his memory is fragrant still. He had two disciples. I wonder if the -broken marble figures, one beside him and one on the ground outside the -shrine, are figures of them. There came a drought upon the land, the -crops failed and the people starved, and these two, to propitiate a -cruel or neglectful Deity, flung themselves into a well in the temple -with the beautiful doorway. Whether the rain came I know not, but -tradition says that the two disciples instead of perishing rose up -dragons. Personally I feel that must have been an unpleasant surprise -for the devotees, but you never know a Chinaman's taste, perhaps they -liked being dragons. The country people seem to think it was an honour. -There was a farmhouse just beyond this shrine, a poor little place, but -here on the flat top of the hill there was a little arable land, and the -Chinese waste no land. Far up the hill-sides, in the most inaccessible -places, I could see these little patches of cultivated ground. It seemed -to me that the labour of reaching them would make the handful of grain -they produced too expensive, but labour hardly counts in China. Up the -paths toiled men and women, intent on getting the last grain out of the -land. Off the beaten ways walking is pretty nearly impossible so steep -are the hill-sides, but of course there are paths, paths everywhere, -paved paths, in China there are no untrodden ways, and upon these paths -I would meet the peasants and the priests, clad like ordinary peasants -in blue cotton, only with shaven heads. My own landlord whom my boy -called “Monk,” and generally added, “He bad man,” used to come regularly -for his rent, and he was so fat that the wicked evidently flourished -like a green bay tree. All the priests, I think, let out their temples -as long as they can get tenants, and whatever they are--my landlord -had beaten a man to death--much must be forgiven them. They have gained -merit because, in this treeless China, they have conserved and planted -trees. Some little profit, I suppose they make out of their trees -because, one day in September, I waked to the fact that at my gate, how -they had climbed up the toilsome, roughly-paved way I know not, was -a train of camels, and they had come to take away the sacks that were -stored in the sanctuary under the care of the god. What on earth was -done with those Spanish chestnuts? They must have been valuable when -they were worth a train of camels to take them away. - -[Illustration: 0530] - -[Illustration: 0530] - -As far as I could see there was no worship done in my temple, the -coolies, who carefully locked the sanctuary doors at night, were filthy -past all description. I tried to put it out of my thoughts that they -occupied a k'ang at night in the room that did duty for my kitchen, and -I am very sure that they were the poorest of the poor, but at night -I would see the youngest and dirtiest of them take a small and -evil-smelling lamp inside along with the god, but what he did there I -never knew. Only the lamp inside, behind the paper of the windows lit -up all the lattice-work and made of that sanctuary, that shabby, -neglected-looking place, a thing of beauty. But, indeed, the outside of -all the buildings was wonderful at night. In the daytime when I looked I -saw how beautiful was the lattice-work which made up the entire top half -of my walls. At night in the courtyard when only a single candle was -lighted {378}their beauty was forced upon me, whether I would or not. -Always I went outside to look at those rooms lighted at night. I walked -up and down the courtyard in the dark--“James Buchanan” generally hung -on to the hem of my gown--I looked at the lighted lattice-work of the -windows, and I listened to the servants and the coolies talking, and I -wondered what they discussed so endlessly, in voices that sounded quite -European. - -They were good servants. The cook I know I shall regret all my days, -for I never expect to get a better, and the boy was most attentive. Any -little thing that he could do for me he always did, and the way they -uncomplainingly washed up plates never ceased to command my admiration. -I had only a camp outfit, the making of books may be weariness unto the -flesh, as Solomon says it is, but even then it does not make me a rich -woman, so I did not wish to spend more than I could help, and yet I -wanted to entertain a friend or two occasionally. This entailed washing -the plates between the courses, and the servants did it without a -murmur. I came to think it was quite the correct thing to wait while -the plates and knives for the next course were washed up. My friends, -of course, knew all about it, and entered into the spirit of the thing -cheerfully, but the servants never gave me away. You would have thought -I had a splendid pantry, and my little scraps of white metal spoons -were always polished till they looked like the silver they ought to have -been. My table linen I made simply out of the ordinary blue cotton one -meets all over China, and it looked so nice, so suitable to meals on -the look-out place, that I shall always cherish a tenderness for blue -cotton. {379}Indeed, but for the lonely nights when one thought, it was -delightful. I only hope my friends enjoyed coming to me, as much as I -enjoyed having them. Their presence drove away all fears. I never feared -the gods in their sanctuaries, I never thought of those who had perished -in the Boxer trouble or the possibility of the return of such days when -they were with me. I thought I had lost the delights of youth, the -joy of the land of long ago, but I found the sensation of entertaining -friends in the San Shan An was like the make-believe parties of one's -childhood. Sitting on the look-out place, away to the south, we could -see a range of low, bald hills. They were enchanted hills. The Chinese -would not go near them, for all that the caves they held hidden in their -folds were full of magnificent jewels. We planned to go over and get -them some day before I left the hills, and make ourselves rich for life. -But they were guarded by gnomes, and elves, and demons, who by their -nefarious spells kept us away, though we did not fear like the Chinese, -and we are not rich yet, though jewels are there for the taking. - -Oh, those sunny days in the mountain temple when we read poetry, and -told stories, and dreamed of the better things life held for us in the -future! They were good days, days in my life to be remembered, if no -more good ever comes to me. Was it the exhilarating air, or the company, -or the temple precincts? All thanks give I to those dead gods who gave -me, for a brief space, something that was left out of my life. - -There was only one blot. That imaginative document known as “Cook's -book” was brought to me afterwards. It wasn't a book at all, needless to -{380}say. It was written on rejected scraps of my typewriting paper, and -it generally stated I had eaten more “Chiken” than would have sufficed -to run a big hotel, and disposed of enough “col” to keep a small railway -engine of my own. Then the flour, and the butter, and the milk, and the -lard, I was supposed to have consumed! I did not at first like to -say much, because the servants were so good in that matter of washing -plates, and knives, and forks, and whenever I did remonstrate the boy -murmured something about “Master.” He was a true Chinaman, he felt -sure I would not grudge anything to make a man comfortable. The woman -evidently did not matter. She was never urged as an excuse for a heavy -bill. I put it to him that the presence of “Master” need not add so -greatly to the coal bill, and I put it very gently, till one day he -mentioned with pride that “Missie other boy was a great friend of his.” - And I, remembering Tuan's powers in the matter of squeeze, had gone -about getting these servants through quite different channels! But once -this knowledge was borne in on me, I became hardhearted. I threatened to -do the marketing myself. - -“I talkee cook,” said the crestfallen boy, and he did “talkee cook,” - said, I suppose, Missie wasn't quite the fool they had counted her, and -presently he came back and returned me fifteen cents! After that I had -no mercy, and I regularly questioned every item of my bills. - -But they were simple souls, and I couldn't help liking them. It seemed -hardly possible they could belong to the same people who had slung a -helpless woman from a pole like a pig, bearing her to her death, a woman -from whom they had had naught {381}but kindness. And yet they were. The -selfsame subservience that made them bow themselves to the Boxer yoke, -was exactly the quality that made them pleasant to me, who was in -authority over them. They were just peasants of Babylon, making the best -of life, deceiving and dissimulating, because deception is the safeguard -of the slave, the only safeguard he knows. And they certainly made the -best of life. It amused me to watch their pleasures, those that were -visible to my eyes. They had a little feast one night, with my stores, -I doubt not, and they caught and kept crickets in little three-cornered -cages which they made themselves. At first, when I went to the temple, -these cages were hung from the eaves outside, but as the weather grew -colder they were taken inside, and I could hear a cheery chirping, long -after the crickets had gone from the hills outside. It rained and was -cold the first week in October, and the servants, like the babies they -were, shivered, and suggested, “Missie go back Peking,” and one day when -it rained hard my tiffin was two hours late, and was brought by a boy -who looked as if he were on the point of bursting into tears. - -[Illustration: 0537] - -Certainly those temples are not built for cold weather. Everything -is ordered in China, even the weather, and the first frost is due, I -believe, on the 1st of November, and yet, on that day, I sat in the warm -and pleasant sunshine writing on the platform that looked away to the -enchanted hills, reflecting a little sorrowfully that presently I would -be gone, and it would be abandoned for the winter. - -For after that unexpected rain, which for once was not ordered, the days -were lovely, and the nights {382}times of delight. The stars hung like -diamond drops in the sky, the planets were scintillating crescents, and, -when the moon rose, the silver moon, she turned the courtyard and the -temple into a dream palace such as never was on sea or land. It was -beauty and delight given, oh given with a lavish hand. - -And the people I saw in the hills were the kindliest I had yet met in -China. I had little enough to do with them, I could not communicate -with them, and yet this was borne in on me. Whenever we met, dirty -brown faces smiled upon me, kindly voices with a burr in them gave -me greeting, I was regularly offered the baby of the farm-house at my -gates, much to that young gentleman's discomfiture, and whenever there -was anything to see, they evidently invited me to stay and share the -sight. Once a bridal procession passed with much beating of gongs, the -bride shut up in the red sedan chair, and all the people about stood -looking on, and I stayed too. Another time they were killing a pig, an -unwieldy, gruesome beast, that made me forswear pork, and I was invited -to attend the great event. The poor pig was very sorry for himself, -and was squealing loudly, but much as I wished to show I appreciated -kindliness, I could not accept that invitation. - -And here in the Western Hills I sat in judgment upon the people I -had known of all my life and been amongst for the last ten months. Of -course, I have no right to sit in judgment but after all, I should be -a fool to live among people for some time and yet have no opinion about -them. And it seemed to me that I was looking with modern eyes upon the -{383}survival of one of the great powers of the ancient world, Babylon -come down to modern times, Babylon cumbrously adapting herself to the -pressure of the nations who have raced ahead of the civilisation that -was hers when they were barbarian hordes. - -All along the Pacific Coast, on the west of America, and the east of -Australia, they fear the Chinaman, and--I used to say his virtues. I put -it the wrong way. What the white races fear--and rightly fear--is that -the Chinaman will come in such hordes, he will lower the standard of -living, he will bring such great pressure to bear, he will reduce the -people of the land in which he elects to live, the people of the working -classes, to his own condition--the hopeless condition of the toiling -slaves of Babylon. It has been well said that the East, China, is the -exact opposite of the West in every thought and feeling. In the West -we honour individualism. This is true of almost every nation. A man is -taught from his earliest youth to depend to a great degree upon himself, -that he alone is responsible for his own actions. Even the women of the -more advanced nations--it marks their advancement, whatever people may -think--are clamouring for a position of their own, to be judged on their -merits, not to be one of a class bound by iron custom to go one way and -one way only. In the East this is reversed. No man has a right to judge -for himself, he is hide-bound by custom, he dare not step out one pace -from the beaten path his fathers trod. The filial piety of the Chinese -has been lauded to the skies. In truth it is a virtue that has become a -curse. To his elders the Chinaman {384}must give implicit, unquestioning -obedience. His work, his marriage, the upbringing of his children, the -whole ordering of his life is not his business but the business of those -in authority over him. If he stepped out and failed, his failure would -affect the whole community. Whatever he does affects not only -himself, but the farthest ramifications of his numerous family. This -interdependence makes for a certain excellence, an excellence that was -reached by the Chinese nation some thousands of years ago, and then--it -is stifling. - -This patriarchal system, this continual keeping of the eyes upon the -past, has done away in the nation with all self-reliance. A man must be -not only a genius, but possessed of an extraordinarily strong will-power -if he manage to shake off the trammels and go his own way unaided, if -he exercise the sturdy self-reliance that sent the nations of the West -ahead by leaps and bounds, though the Chinese had worked their way -to civilisation ages before them. Pages might be written on the -subservience and ignorance of the women. - -“Oh but a woman has influence,” say the men who know China most -intimately. And of course she has influence, but in China it must often -be the worst form of power, the influence of the favourite, favoured -slave. The woman's influence is the influence of a degraded, ignorant, -and servile class, a class that every man treats openly with a certain -contempt, a class that is crippled, mentally and bodily. The Chinese, -be it counted to them for grace, have always held in high esteem a -well-educated man, educated on their archaic lines; but not, I think, -till this century, has it ever occurred to {385}them that a woman would -be better educated. A cruel drag upon the nation must be the appalling -ignorance of its women, the intense ignorance of half the population. -Things are changing, they say, but, of necessity, they change most -slowly. Knowledge of any kind takes long, long to permeate an inert -mass. - -[Illustration: 0543] - -We praise the Chinaman for his industry. But, in truth, we praise -without due cause. We of the West have long since learned of the dignity -of labour and if we do not always live up to our ideals, at least we -appreciate them, and judged by this standard the Chinaman is found -wanting. He does not appreciate the dignity of labour. The long nails on -the fingers of the man upon whom fortune has smiled proclaim to all that -he has no need to use his hands; his fat, flabby, soft body declares him -rich and well-fed, and that there is no need to exert himself. He is -a man to be envied by the greater part of the nation. The forceful, -strenuous life of the West, the life that has made the nations has -no charms for, excites no admiration in his breast. Manual labour and -strife is for the man who cannot help himself. And, man for man, his -manual labour will by no means compare with that accomplished by the -man of the West. Nominally he works from dawn to dark, really he wastes -two-thirds of the time, sometimes in useless, misdirected effort, -sometimes in mere idle loitering. He is a slave in all but name. His -life is dull, dull and colourless; he can look forward to no recreation -when his work is over, therefore he spins it out the livelong day. Home -life, in the best sense of the term, he has none, he may just as well -stay at his {386}work, exchanging ideas and arguing with his fellows. - -Something to hope for, to live for, to work for, seems to me the great -desideratum of the majority of the Chinese nation, something a little -beyond the colourless round of life. The greater part of the nation is -poor, so poor that industry is thrust upon it, unless it worked it would -of necessity die; the struggle for life absorbs all its energies, gives -it no time for thought sufficient to raise it an inch above the dull -routine that makes up the daily round, but the country is by no means -poor, had it been there would have been no such civilisation so early -and so lasting in the world's history, no such fostering of a race that -now, in spite of most evil sanitary conditions, raises four generations -to the three of the man of the West. - -China is a rich land and once she is wiser she will be far richer still, -for in her mountains are such store of iron and coal as, once worked, -may well revolutionise the industrial world. - -Now the thought of revolutionising the condition of the industrial world -brings me quite naturally to the consideration of missionary effort. - -For the last two hundred and fifty years the Catholic, and for the last -hundred years the Protestant Churches, have been working in China with a -view to proselytising the people. And converts are notoriously harder to -make than in any other missionary field. Still they are made. - -To me, a Greek, it does not seem to matter by what name a man calls upon -the Great Power that is over us all--the thing that really matters -is the life of the man who calls upon that God. Now the missionaries, -whether they make converts, or whether they do not, do this, they set -up a higher standard of living. They come among these slave people, they -educate them, men and women, they care for the sick by thousands, and -by their very presence among them they show them, I speak of material -things, there is something beyond their own narrow round, and they make -them desire these better things. If the Western nations are wise they -will allow no poor missionaries in China, it is so easy to sink to the -level of the people, to become as Chinese as the Chinese themselves. -Personally, I think it is a mistake to conform to Chinese customs. The -missionaries are there to preach the better customs of the West and -there must be no lowering of the standard. The Chinaman wants to be -taught self-reliance, he wants to be taught self-respect, and, last but -by no means least, he wants to be taught to amuse himself rationally -and healthily. Now this in a measure, even this last, is what the -missionaries, the majority of them, are teaching him, though, doubtless, -they would not put their teaching in exactly those words, might be even -surprised to hear it so described. They are helping to break down the -great patriarchal system which has been stifling China for so many -hundreds of years. They are teaching responsibility, the responsibility -of every man and woman for his and her own doings. - -And they are pioneers of trade, forerunners of the merchants who must -inevitably follow in their footsteps. There are those who will say that -they do not influence the more highly educated portion of the community, -but they come to those who need {388}them most. The rich can afford to -send their sons abroad, to pay for medical attendance. It is to those -of humble means that the schools and hospitals introduced by foreign -charity are an immeasurable advantage, a boon beyond price. For the man -who has once come in contact with these foreigners never forgets. He has -seen their possessions, humble in their eyes, wonderful in his, and in -his heart a desire is implanted--a desire for something a little -better than has satisfied his fathers. And slowly this little leaven of -discontent, heavenly discontent and dissatisfaction with things as they -are, will permeate the whole lump. China is daily coming more in -contact with the rest of the world. That world ruthlessly shuts out her -proletariat because it will not be pulled down. It is well then that the -proletariat should be levelled up. The process is slowly beginning when -the missionaries put into the hands of a labourer the Gospels, tell him -he is of as much value as the President in his palace, make him desire -to read, to wash his face to be just a little better than his fellows. -The creed he holds is a small matter, but it is a great matter if he -be no longer a slave, but a self-respecting man fit to mingle on equal -terms with the men of the West. Such a man will be more capable, more -ready to develop the resources of his own rich land; as a trader he -will be of ten times more value to the mercantile world for ever on the -look-out for a market. Whether the nations then need fear him will be -matter for further consideration. It is possible things may be adjusted -on a comfortable basis of supply and demand. - -It would be unfair to give all credit for changing {3898}China to the -missionaries. They are only one factor in a general movement that her -own sons, the men of new China, have deeply at heart. The past is going, -but the great change will not be anything violent. The Boxer tragedy -awakened the Western world thoroughly to what it had always felt, that -an Empire like Babylon was unsuited to the present day, and they said -so with shot and shell, and China is taking the lesson to heart, slowly, -slowly, but she is taking it. She will have learned it thoroughly when -the need for change, the desire for better things, the power to insist -on a higher standard of living shall have come to her lower classes, and -then she will not change exactly as the Western world would wish, but as -she herself thinks best. The Chinese have always adapted themselves, and -in these modern times they will use the same methods that they have done -through the centuries. - -There came forth the fingers of a man's hand and wrote upon the plaster -of the wall of the King's Palace, “_MENE MENE TEKEL UPHAR-SIN_.” In that -night was Belshazzar, the King of the Chaldeans, slain, and Darius the -Mede took the kingdom. So the men who made the Forbidden City sacred -have passed away, the Dowager-Empress who defied the West has gone to -her long home, the Emperor is but a tiny child, his Empire is confined -within the pinkish red walls of the Inner City, and the Republic, the -new young Republic with a Dictator at its head, reigns in his stead. But -the nation is stirring, the slow-moving, patient slaves of Babylon. Will -not a new nation arise that shall be great in its own way even as -the nations of the West are great, for surely the spirit of those men -{390}who built the wondrous courtyards and halls of audience of the -Forbidden City, who planned the pleasure-grounds at Jehol, who stretched -the wall over two thousand miles of mountain and valley, who conceived -the Altar of Heaven, the most glorious altar ever dedicated to any -Deity, must be alive and active as it was a thousand' years ago. And -when that spirit animates not the few taskmasters, but the mass of the -people, when it reaches the toiling slaves and makes of them men, the -nation will be like the palaces and altars they built hundreds of -years ago, and the rest of the world may stand aside, and wonder, and, -perhaps, fear. - - -THE END - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Woman In China, by Mary Gaunt - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A WOMAN IN CHINA *** - -***** This file should be named 54401-0.txt or 54401-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/4/0/54401/ - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by the Internet Archive - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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