The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-08
LEFT PENIN LAST MAY
NOW VISITING FRIENDS IN
ST. PAUL
WAS IN BRITISH LEGATION
She Talks Interestingly to Il Globe
Reporter About the Then Status
in the Chinese
Capital.

Miss Florence Seeley, but recently re-
turned from Pekin, the seat of the Chi
nese Instruction, Is IN the city, a guest
of the Misses Fox, of STA st. Anthony
avenue. Miss Seeley spent the past three
years as a professional She was employ
ed until the middle Of May assisting Capt
/ Johnson, officer Of the British legation.
When seen by a GIob reporter last
night Miss SeeIey spoke Interestingly Of
life at Pektn and the superstltions of the
Celestials. She said:
"The worship of the Chinese Of their
ancestors is, largely responsible for the
opposition they show to REFORM and 1t is
due TO this worship that the government
Of China is unable to prevent the up
rising of the Boxers, and also that so
many Mandarins are implicated In it.
I'VE Americans do not understand the
true reason for the hatred shown foreign
ers by the CeIestials. They are not so
much to be blamed after all. They are
deeply religious, and their religion to them
is as sacred and as much cherished as is
Christianity by u.s. What would any IN
dependent American do If a Chinaman
came into his house and attempted to
cram down his throat, morning, noon
and night, a religion utterly ctrange and
Gistasteful to him, contrary to that taught
to him by his parents, and to them. by
their parents? He first would object, and.
sooner or 1atar, would use more forcibIe
means to express his circumstances This
is what has happened in China. The Chi
nese are the most peaceab'e people on
eartn when left alone, ard IT takes a
gccG deal to force one OF them into a
fight. But, once started, then comes the
reign of blood and rapina.
1.-THE bulk Of the Chinese. population are
welded to their religion, and will never
be converted to the Christian faith They
see the foreign missionaries winning some
of their brothers, sisters or friends over
to what they term a heather faith che
that, in their opinion, to follow means
absolute destruction of the soul.
Since the existing troubles in China
began there has been a good deal OF non
sense written about the Chinese and their
customs. For example, the desecration
Of Chinese graves by foreigners is made
mention of. I noticed in a New York pa
per that railroads are run through the
burial places, much to the grief Of the
| natives. This is all tommy-rot. The Chi
naman has no objection whatever to NOV
ing the bones of his ancestors from one
place to another If he is paid a few Eng
Iish pennies for doing so. In China there
is no such place as conSecrated ground.
/ The poorer classes oftentimes do not bury
their dead at all, but place the collins in
the middle of the street. I have more
than once seen in the streets Of Ten Tsin
human remains being deVOured by logs.
The coffin in which the body had been
placed had rotted away.
The Chinese idolize the great wall. We're
It not for the fact that, for some rea-
son or other, gap exists In the wall,
no railroad would have been built through
it. The line would have been compelled
to build to the wall, and then continue its
construction on the other side.
zone strong reason for the cruelty ex-
hiblted by the Boxers against foreigners
are the tales of horror circulated among
the lower classes by those in power re-
specting the foreigners and fictitious cru
elites pEacticed by the latter against their
enemies. This mistrust of all foreigners
is carefully kept alive, and, due to them,
the common masses believe the average
American, RngIishnan, German or
Frenchnan to be a most bloodthirsty de-
mon who eats his victims alive and saves
| their eyes as marbles for his children.
''It is small wonder. then, that the Box
ers inflict such cruelty On the foreigners
| in revenge.
I'm my opinion the war with China has
| just begun. There are millions, and fight
| ing as they are In a religious frenzy, will
put up fight such as the world has never
seen before. A Chinanan, as a rule, is
/ not a brave man, but when his religion
Is at stake, he dies as bravely as does an
! American"
Miss SeeIey leaves tonight over ths
Northern Pacific for Portland, Or, where
| she has relatives.