Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-10-25

| went one morning To WISH the state
| department., and as 1 looked at it Il
| thought of our great building of the
state, war and navy. which cost, you
know, more than S100OO,OOO, and
which is the biggest granite building
in the world. The street was mud
puddle, and l Rugged low. shackly
buildings till l finally came to a gate
at which dirty official was standing.
He shook his head as l entered, but I
pretended not to see him and pushed
my way in. l entered a court, which
looked for all the world like barn.
yard surrounded by low, wooden sta
bles, with heavy tiled roofs This
court was filled with donkeys, horses
and dogs. and half-naked children
SpraWled in front of the doors of these
buildings, which We're, in fact the of
fees of the department. The buildings
were filled with clerks, who wrote
away at bare tables, the light coming
in through latticework walls backed
with white paper. They scowled at
me as | looked. and one of them gave
me TO understand that | had better
Hanlin college. 1t was worse than the
state department, and everything
about it was shabby and going to seed.
tried to get into the board of punish
ments, where the horrible cruelties
which the Chinese government metes
out to its rebels and criminals are
passed upon, and where torture is COM
mon, but was stopped at the door
and was positively told that [ could
not so in. 1t was the same with all
the government departments. They
could not have been Shabbier had they
been knocked up out of odd pieces of
old NoahS ark, and everything was
filthy and the picture of ruin. The
only really new things in the city
seemed to be the clothes of the Off
Gals, and l laughed again and again
as l saw these mandarins bow down
in the mud and go through tie forms
of the Chinese court amid their filthy
surroundings. They are among them
selves, as far as words go, the most
polite people of all nations, ard they
look upon us as Doors and barbarians.
The most of the people believe that
they will conquer the world, and
doubt whether a thousand out of the
million and a half people in Pekin
know anything of the Japanese victor
les. The court officials distribute all
sorts of lies, and they have probably
told the people that they have whipped
the Japanese on both land and sea,
and that the mikadO will be brought
to Pekin. The majority of the citizens
OF the Chinese capital really believe
that America is subject to China They
capital to pay Uncle Sans tribute to
their emperor, and this, | am told is
their opinion as to every foreign lega-
ton. They have nicknamed, the street
upon which the foreign ministers live
1.-The street of the subject nations" and
they would consider it a disgrace to
ask our minister to dinner, and | ven
ture that Col. DENLY has never been
on intimate terms with a dozen high
class Chinese officials. This, | know,
will seem strange to Americans, but
it is actually the truth.
Pekin is a most cosmopolitan city.
We have in America only the Chinese
of south China. These come from the
hot countries at the southern part of
the empire, and they are small and
lean in comparison with the people Of
the north. They dress differently, and
they have different dialect and diff
ferent habits and customs. Pekin is
frozen up for six months of the year,
and you can have ice-sIedging on the
PeihO at Christmas. | found the peo-
pie of every Chinese state different,
and the dialects are as various as the
languages of Europe. Here in Pezin
you find representatives of every Chi
neSe state, and there are celeStrials
from all the big cities. Thibet Mongolia
Manchuria, and parts of Afghanistan
are all tributary to China, and people
of a half dozen religions jostle each
other as they wade through the streets.
The StrangeSt sights to me at first en-
trance were the nOmadic MOngOlians,
who rode into the city on great camels
or drOmedarieS, which were covered
with wool from six to II inches long.
Collie lEOlu the cO1u regions Oh
Mongolia or Siberia, and during my
visit to the Chinese wall l passed car
avans of these camels marching in in
gle file and fastened together by sticks
thrust through the thick flesh Of their
noses. They were loaded with great
bundles Of fur, which they had brought
down from the north for the diletante
mandarins Of Pekin, and were carry
ing back brick, tea and coal to the
Tartars and Russians. Many of these
were ridden by Mongol women, who,
in coats, pantalOons and fur capes,
rode astride, and in other cases by
men, who were clad in sheepskins,
with fur capes pulled well down over
their fierce Tartar eyes. / saw hun
dreds of Thibetan lamas in their gor-
geOus robes, and | met many NOLAN
medans from the west part of China.
Frank G. Carpenter.
HARMONIOUS DRESSING.