New-York tribune., 1900-07-08

has been merely sitting in now fills your COM
partment with clouds, and you fulfil your al
lOtted quota for this world by swallowing all at
once a peck Of good measure, running over. The
conductors and the brakemen are Chinese, and
far from reaching the spruce ideal cherished
in the Occidental mind for these functionaries.
They dirty and i'll clad their saving grace
being their knowledge of a few English words
and phrases, so that you are able to tell whether
they are calling for tickets offering you tea,
for which you subsequently asked for a
commission the longest and most important
word in most Chinamens vocabulary. Conduc-
tors is used in the plural because there are al
ways two three each train, not to divide
the work, but 10 share it. In other words, one
conductor is sent to punch the tickets another
10 see that the first one does not cheat. Some
times there is a third to watch over the other
two, and in this way the company reduces the
squeezing Of its employees to a minimum. The
road. by the way was built by Chinese capital
and is called the Imperial Chinese Railway
PEKING THAT Is NOT PEKING.
At a great stone station named Pel1ing a
huge sign in front the passengers are dumped
out. But no mirage on the desert Of green oasis
and sparkling stream ever raised falser hopes
in the bosoms Of weary travellers than does this
sign in glaring letters-'Pekng" The station
may be Peking; yes, but nothing else is. 1t is
purely a detachment; the genuine article is some
three miles and half further on.
Following blindIy in the footsteps of the coolie
who has valiantly fought with and vanquIshed a
dozen Of his brothers for the possession Of your
bag. you are led to vast open space at the side
OF the station, which resembles the grounds of a
country fair more than anything else. Here
stretched cut in long rows, rounded, blue
baize top after another. are myriad Of Peking
Cfi.a
Of course is in league with certain of the drivers
one of whom he accosts You repeat over and
over again, Hotel de Peking. Hotel de Peking."
The mule is now harnessed to the cart, your
bag pushed inside, and the driver gesticulates to
you 10 enter and place yourself by 1t. The front
Of the cart TO which you must climb is some
three or four feet from the ground, and there is
no step, so you hoist yourself up as best you
may.
REPULsVENEss EVERYWHERE.
II is TWO miles from the station to the outer
walls Of Picking Your driver starts off, one Of
a crowd Of other jehus. who all bound the
same way. one soon wearies of attempting to
describe scenes and conditions in China, because
there are no beauties to arouse enthusiasm.
Everything is such an exaggeration Of what is
most distasteful TO our own instincts Of cvni-
zation that adjectives and hyperbole are soon
exhausted. This road TO the outer gate TO Pc
king is a series Of dust heaps and dust holes,
which your sprngless cart alternately
wailOws or totters on the verge Of a decivty.
There are a few trees, and great many graves,
some cultivated fields and struggling houses.
Then you catch your first glimpse Of the brown
Jagged outer wall Of Peking. and the gate
through which you are presently to enter You
are unfeignedly glad TO find something a. last
which is impressive He must be a matter of
fact soul indeed who is not awed by his first
glimpse Of that wall. 1t stands as the outer
barrier Of the great Chinese capital wherein is
concentrated the essence Of conservatism. A
line Of moth eaten camels winds along under its
shadow. tied by their uplifted noses, one behind
the other On their backs heavy loads.
A road Of electric cars has been built by some
Germans from the station to the nearest gate
Of the outer wall This is a great innovation.
but here II must stop. IL would never do to