The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-03-30
Our Special COntributOrS==-ISO5.
THREE ROYAL LADIES OF THE ORIENT.
By REV. WII.LIAh Ill 1OC 5RIFFS, d. d,
Author .t

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ard cleared of pirates. Telegraphs
legal TO give the body polite new
nerves. A modern army was kept sup
| piled from arsenals, furnished with
to appliances of modern science.
The Chinese flag now flies from the
mastheads of steamers. Education
is being slowly renovated. A college
of Interpreters at Peking has long
been under the direction of Ameri-
can scholars. In spite of the vast
ness of the task before her, expert
observers say that much of this new
life of China is directly owing to this
venerable lady.
An InterruI ted Celebration.
Yet in the Middle Kingdom, as
elsewhere, the best laid plans of mice,
men and women, Expresses though
they be, "gang aft agIee." All prep
arations had been made for a celebra-
ton on the grandest scale of the Dow
ager EMPRESS sixtieth birthday, on
November 9th last. The celebra-
tions of the SEVENTEEN and eightieth
anniversaries of the birth of the
mother of the world famous Emperor
Klen-Lung had been taken as models.
The triumphal progress YVES to be
from the Eho Park to the Forbidden
City, length of ten miles. Along
this route there were to be seven
dragon sheds, nineteen ornamental
booths, wenty-four decorated plat
forms, fourteen theatrical stages,
eighty four triumphal arches, six
kiosks, and in nine places the ancient
curiosities of former dynasties were
to be exhibited. For the pavilions
of satin and decorations, over a mil
lion pieces of ancient silk were to be
used. Besides public rejoicings and
ornamentation, free theatrical per-
formances were to last through seven
weeks. The Emperor was to bestow
on the Empress Dowager an honor
airy title meaning Eminent and
Splendid" The whole court was to
wait upon her, and the procession of
Chinese magnifcence was to be in
describab,e. The whole was expected
to cost over thirty millions of dollars.
But-the Japanese have changed all
this.
From the Chinese view, these econ
ceited young upstairs" across the sea
were so disagreeable as to begin war,
and at such an inconvenient time!
The money to be spent for silk, gold
leaf, refreshments and jade had to go
for cartridges and crackers, and the
whole celebration had to be post
poned indefinitely. Long before the
Chinese people at large even SO much
as knew there was war, the Japa-
nese had driven the armies of Ii
Hung Chang out of Korea. Now
Wei hal wei has fallen, the gates of
Picking are threatened, and an area
of northern China twice the size of
all Japan is held by the armies of
Japan.
The Queen of Korea.
Over in this "Little outpost State"
the Korean dynasty is but four hun
dred years old. Korea claims civil
ization nearly as old as China's
With any date this side of 1922 B.
G. she will not be satisfied. Many
have been the States, governments
and dynasties in this peninsular land.
In medieval times the Arabs traded
here, and to the ports and court of
illuatrious Shinra, Chinese fleets,
both commercial and governmental,
sailed, guided by the magnetic COM
pass-this being matter of record
and not of guess. Then came the
splendid age of Buddhist culture; of
mighty monasteries, of marble pa
godas rich in sculpture, of colossal
granite twin images, male and female;
of unnumbered temples, shrines and
images; of Sanskrit and Chinese
manuscripts; of learned men; of
true vernacular alphabet; of the great
and glorious things material and
mental which make civilization.
Korea was a grander country then
than now; she gave light rather than
reflected it; she was the teacher of re-
ligion, of art, of medicine, of kera-
mics, and, indeed, of whole civil
zation of Japan. Last, and most
glorious, she had during this period
three renowned sovereigns, women
whose names to this day are beacon
lights and shining examples. Space
does not permit our telling names
and stories, but the proofs that wom-
ans estate was highest in Korea
under Buddhism, of which these ia