The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1898-09-30

Il About the Emperor of China.
The young emperor is a decided,
weak character, and doesn't even d.
his own thinking. The empress dow
ager attends to that for him. 1t i.
said that he occasionally goes into
fits of rage when he is crossed, but il
is the rage Of child, and is over al
soon as he has exhausted himself
He has been under the thumb of the
empress dowager since he was baby.
She supervised his education and
picked out his wives for him. She
has him so hemmed IN with officials
and wives who are her sworn allies
that there has not been a chance
for the young emperor to extricate
himself from his subservient condi-
ton, even if he wanted to, which he
apparently doesn't.
The emperor was II years old at
the time of his marriage, 10 years
ago, and the empress dowager gave
him three wives to start with. The
selection was curious. All the pretty
Tartar girls of the empire, numbering
many thousands, were gathered to-
gether and sorted, and the best of
them were sent to Peking. The Sc
lection was first made by the gov
ernors of the provinces, and no girl
was presented who was over Is nor
under II years of age.
The choice lots were dressed in the
finest of clothes, and were carried
from all parts Of the empire into Pc
king. They were here submitted to
the inspectian of the old empires dow
ager, being brought into her presence
in lots of five. She passed upon them
as fast as she could and weeded out
the poorest and dullest. Those who
remained were taken out for the time
and brought in in new lots, and so
the sorting went on until the thous
ands had dwindled to the hundreds,
the hundreds to scores, and the scores
at last down to Is.
These Is girls were put into train
ing. Their places were tested and
all sorts of experiments were made as
to their tempers and traits. After
some months the old empress picked
out the three girls she liked, and the
eldest of these, who was Is years old,
became empress. The two others
became what are called secondary
wives, or chief concubines, and these
two latter were sisters, one of whom
was l3 and the other Is years old.
The marriage of the emperor was eel
ebrated in elaborate style, and the
magnificence of the occasion may be
imagined from the fact that it cost
the government $10,000,000.
Every three years new patches of
wives are picked out for the emperor.
The prettiest girls in the empire are
chosen and the emperor doesn't allow
affairs of state to interfere with him
in his amusements. He is sort of a
holy fgurehead and his officials keep
making him more sacred every day,
in return for which they get unlimited
opportunities to carry on their plots
and populations. The whole Chinese
court is made up Of intrigues and in.
trigues, and the mobiles are glad to
get their daughters in the royal harem
Jor the political prestige it gives.
Everything connected with the EN-.
peror is regulated by law. He has
imperial physicians who watch over
his health. The law even provides
just what he shall eat. According to
the old Chinese books, there must be
placed daily before him 80 pounds of
meat in a basin and seven pounds
boiled into soup. He has daily al
lowance Of about pound of hogs
fat and butter, and he has the right
to order two sheep, two fowls and
two ducks, while his drink for the
day is restricted to the milk of 80
cogs and the sleeping of rs parcels
of tea.
The emperor is lean and unhealthy.
He sleeps most of the day and does
what work be has to at night, and his
life Of pleasure has made physical
wreck of him. 1t is doubtful wheth-
er he understands his real situation.
II is said that he has never reviewed
his own army and that be knows alb.
solutely nothing about military tactics.
The emperor knows nothing of
modern civilization. He doesn't even
know his own country. His eu-
nuches are said to have more in
huence with him than any one else.
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