The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1899-02-09
CATHARINE II. OF CHINA.
Grand Old Woman Who Has So Loag
Ruled the Celestial
Empire.

| AdAHdiluC H. VI Snlud 10 hOt nltfciN
great empress; historians of the futur
may be trusted to regard her as grea
woman. A dispatch recently cablet
from Peking TO the Herald describe
her as seated on a dais receiving tn,
ladies of the diplomatic corps. TIL,
emperor is reported to have been alss
present, but unimportantly, at her left
1t was nice of her, though, TO let rim b,
there at all. He is but the nephew ot
his aunt. Ii is the lady who reigns anC
who has reigned for 81 years. Said Con
fucius: Man is to woman what the
sun is TO the moon; he orders. SHE
obeys. and harmony is the result
Confucius was wise in his generation
but not in nineteenth century Cathay
There the moon orders, and not the
sun merely but the nephew also obeys
Ii is as well, perhaps. There are Prede-
cessors of his who baked and who be-
cause of il rejoined their ancestors in
stanter. Catharine IL. of China is Il lady
who likes her own way That, howev-
er, is natural. Catharine |. of Russ ia
began life as a servant Ca,harine III.
of China began as a slave. 1t is said
that, contrary TO local custom, her face
is not painted. But everything about
her is contrary to local custom. Never
till she emerged from her scullery has
a woman dreamed of usurping the
dragon seat Fancy an odalesque step
ping from the seraglio and ousting the
sultan from his throne. Such a per-
formance is unimaginable, and yet this
lady has done better. one might even
say worse.
The empress dowager is by birth
Tartar The fact is worth noting. Tar
tars do not mutilate their daughters
feet. The girl had Tree use of hers. AT
the age of II she was sold to a manda-
rim, IL and about his household her
feet took her where her superors could
not go. \ Chinese girl who marries
passes from one prison TO another. OF
the outer world she knows nothing. OF
that outer world her slaves know all.
1t was this way with little Isl Au
What She did not know she guessed,
and what she could not guess she
learned. She learned to dance A bee
could not equal her. She learned to
read. On the tip Of her tongue were
a hundred stories each more diyerting
than the other. On the tom-tom she
learned to strum. The three notes that
are dear to the orient she repeated sur
prisingly. She learned more difficult
things, too; how to arrange basket OF
fruit, how 10 touch flowers, how to
smile, and how to hold her tongue
Astonished at the prodigy, the manda-
rim sent her as a curiosity to his sover |
eign at Peking, One day the Son Of |
Heaven noticed her The Slave became /
a favorite, and, becoming mother, be- |
came also a secondary wife There one
might suppose, that had she ambitions
they would have rested. 1t was there
hey began. Though that was 81 years
ago they have been increasing ever
since. AS recently related here. there
,uecessively departed this life the Son
of Heavtn. the Son Of Heavens son,
others who were in the way There
lfter she was supreme.
Lately, when the ladies of the diplo
matte corps paraded before her she
,atted the wife of the British mbas-
ador Oh the cheek The Herald states
hat in doing so she wore charming
mile. One may readily believe i, Her
land is as strong as Eer rise is pro
iigious. In modern times both are un-
'aralleled. There is indeed another
Instance of slave attaining imperia,
'ower, but it occurred in Hayti. and
What occurs in Hayti does not count
even otherwise this lady is unique Re-
-arded merely as Chinese frecracker,
he is destined TO burn into history
With flame intolerably vicious per-
APPS, and yet entirely her own. - Col
er's Weekly.