Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-11-30
W. c. 7. U. COLUMN.
China's Dowager Empress

We read much in these days Of the
Dowager Empress Of China, but the mar
velous story of her life ought to be bet
ter known. II seems that she is the
daughter of poor family who lived
many years ago in the outskirts OF
Canton. This family consisted of
father, mother, a girl of fourteen and
boy of seven. When they were on the
verge of starvation the girl, who was
extremely beautiful, begged her father
to sell her as slave rather than that
they should perish. Very greatly
against his will he finally consented,
and she became the property of dis
tinguished General. She manifested
disposition so lovely and was so in
dustrious and helpful, that after one
year the General adopted her as his
own daughter. Some years later he
was called to Perkin to be decorated by
the Emperor for his services, and, after
carefully considering what present he
could take with him, he finally decided
that he would pay the Emperor the
highest compliment in his power
namely, he would give him his daugh-
ter as member of his harem; but the
Emperor was SO delighted with the
appearance and character of the young
lady who had been carefully educated
in the home of the General, that he
married her, and she became the
mother of later Emperor, and ac-
quired such an overmastering influence
in the councils of the Empire that to-
day she is the most potent personality
among the 100000 people tt at it con-
tains.
When she came TO power, she in
duced her son TO send an embassy
charged with the duty of finding her
parents and her brother. After long
and careful search they ascertained
that the father and the mother of the
Empress were dead and her brother
poverty laborer in a distant
province. When they went to him
with the tidings that his sister was none
other than the great Empress dowager,
he was so overwhelmed that he fell TO
the ground in a faint. They brought
him 20 the palace, where every honor
was paid him, and he was for the re-
mainder of his life treated with the
consideration usually bestowed upon
prince. The Empress has just
reached the age of sixty years. cycle
famous to the Mongolian. The nation
has long been conducting preparations
to celebrate the event in her honor
with twenty-five millions of money, but
upon the outbreak of the present war
with Japan the Empress requested that
the money being set aside for this cell
ebration be used for the purpose Of the
war, but nevertheless great ceremonies
and wonderful displays characterized
the birthday Of the beloved Empress
who, forty-six years ago, was sold as a
slave girl by starving father. "She
found China" in the words of an en-
inent writer, "with the prestige re-
sources and peace of the realm re-
duced to their lowest ebb, with the
most fruitful provinces a desert; with
three great and apparently successful
rebelions raging simultaneously in
different parts of the Empire; with
load of debt caused by an unsuccessful
foreign war, during which the capital
was in the hands of the invader" She
found all these when her husband died
in 1861; her son was then seven years
old, and she had become regent, and
when she handed over the reins of
governement to him in 1888, profound
peace relgned over the eighteen prov
inces and the vast regions outside OF
them, and there never was time in
the history of China when the country
was greater in the eyes of foreign
powers, or more respected by them,
than during the reign of the great
steatsman women, the Empress dowa-
ger. Her voice is still for peace, but it
looks as if counsels less wise were to
prevail. 1t is part of the universal
development of women in all countries
that the greatest Empire on the face of
the earth should, in this day, have de-
veloped the greatest woman sovereign
who has eyer lived.
STATE NEWS.