Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-07-31


the most conservative and least pro-
gressive of any in the world.
One of the first recorded of the IA
nous women of China, mentioned
by every good Chinese with spe-
cial reverence, and because of her good
work exalted to receive divine honors,
is Lui Tsu, wife of the Emperor
Hwang-ti, whose reign began about
2G9S .. c. Hwang-t it's wife was the
daughter of feudal chief. Mulberry
trees are plentiful in China, and doubt
less this observant woman in her girl
hood often watched the silkworIns in
the branches fndustriously spinning
their silken cocoons. When she became
the wife of Hwang-ti, man of intelli-
gence, devoted to the welfare of his
people, she began to experiment with
the cocoons. The silk she had unwound
and woven into cloth, which has ever
since been among the most priced of
the worlds materials for clothing. All
over China groves of mulberry trees
were laid out, and the cultivation of the
silkworm became one of the great in
dustries of the then embryo Chinese
empire, which only included couple Of
little provinces on the Hoang -Ho.
The great beauties of China have not
been among its benefactors If tradition
is to be believed. Baleful indeed is said
to have been the influence of Mei-hi,
wife of the Emperor Kwei, who reigned
B. G. 1878 to 1866. Her father was one
of the small chiefs of the empire, and in
order to ingratiate himself with Kwei
who threatened to attack his province
the chief sent to the emperor as pres
ent his beautiful but unprincipled
fafs of Oh, 1t
ace Kwei had at least been a brave
warrior; he was man of great phys
ical strength and could twist bars of
iron as If they were bamboo withes
But Mei-hi proved the Delilah of this
Chinese Samson. War and the chase
were forgotten; he became the slave Of
the young beauty, for whose pleasure
he impoverished China in order to build
for her great and splendid palaces
These We're filled with dissolute people.
Lakes of wine ornamented the palace
garden, and dried meats were hung
from the trees to feed the thousands
who attended the wild orgies given
there. The people, Disguised with the
immortality of the imperial court, united
in rebelliont under Prince Tang the
founder of the dynasty of that name.
Kwef was defeated in battle and i'm
prisoned Until his death, in 1853 B. C.
The fate Of Mei-hi is unknown.
Another of the wicked beauties was
Taxi, a captive taken in provincial
warfare in 1146 B. C. She captiyated
the Emperor Chow Sin, one Of the most
wicked of China's rulers For her the
emperor built palace mile square.
surrounded by a magnificent park, in
which all sorts of rare animals ranged.
This palace was called the Stag Tower.
and proved the funeral pyre of Chow
Sin, for, after enduring few years of
unparalleled oppression to crafty the
extravaganza and cruelty Of Taxi, the
people revolted, and Chow Sin, fleeing
to the Stag Tower, himself fired the
building and was consumed in it's
ruins. Taxi was captured and con-
demned to death, but SO captivating
was her beauty that no one would ex.
ecute the sentence of death, until an
aged councillor, covering his face so
that he might not falter in purpose. de-
livered the fatal blow. The Chinese
still believe that she was the human
incarnation of wolf demon.
Most interesting of all, the Cleo
patra of China was Pau-sze, whose
beauty enslayed Yiu, emperor of China
from 7s1 to ITO B. c. She was the
daughter OF petty chief and was
spoiled and imperious rather than
cruel. She cared little for the en-
peror, although there was nothing he
would not do to please her, even to the
disinheriti1g of the heir that her son
might be declared the successor. At
last, after every expedient had been
tried by Yiu to win a smile from his
charmer, he stopped to mighty piece
of folly.
There was In existence at that time a
system of great beacon fires, to be light.
ed only in time of mortal peril. when
all feudal chiefs We're pledged to hasten
to the capital to relieve the danger of
their emperor. Yiu one day ordered
these to be lighted. and In great anx
iety for their monarch's safety, his vas
sails rushed by forced marches to the
capital The emperor's object was ao-
conD!ished. Pau-sze. whose sense Of
humor must have been odd, sat wreath
ed In smiles as the chagrlned princes
marched up to the city at the head of
their troops This was probably the
most costly smile in history, for, later,
When a real CRISIS arrived and the bea-
cons We're lighted In earnest. no vassal
responded. and the capital was can
sNAS GAM PluliucIcu ny DarDar1anS.
Pau-sze, carried off captive by their
chlef, was never heard of more.
No ADLER hand has guided the des-
tlnles of China than that of Empress
Lutchi. The widow of a weak and in
capable emperor of the Han dynasty,
she began to reign in 1874 B. C. on behalf
of her 14-year-old son. She had to cope
not only with tangled public questions.
but by her promptness and energy
stamped out rebellion that was in
cited by an inferior member of the late
emperor's harem, who conspired on be-
half OF her own son. The promptness
with which Luichi melted out bar
parous justice to the plotters saved the
empire from serious troubles Any one
who exhibited any disapproval Of her
highhanded rulings was promptly re-
moved. either by poison or the knife.
80 that, great as was her genius, Luichi
is not unworthy of the title of the Luz
cretia Borgia of China.
One of the noblest characters in Chi
nese history is Ch'ang-sun. She, was
the wife of the reformer Tai Sung, a
great emperor of the Tang dynasty.