The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-01-20
Winter in Pekin
What the People
There Are Do ng.

Special correspondence Of the New 10FA
Evening Post from Pekin says.
When Pekin awoke this morning the
wind was roaring among the houses
banging the signs, and tearing down the
last shrivelled leaves. feeble sun
tried to struggle through the grayness,
but a whirl Of cinnamon-colored SAND
blew it out, and the clouds packed to-
gether into a cold Dau Of gray. The
lean. hungry dogs that sink in every
alleyway were hidden away from ti4e
storm Every Chinaman who owns q,
sheepskin pat it on over two coats. Inc
less fortunate ones wrapped Up ia rags
or warmed their stone slabs and hud-
died together TO smoke their Nater-pipes
CT steal away into the land Of opium
dreams taking refuge from sc outdoor
world that is filed with driven sand,
borne by the fierce north wind.
When the air was fun Of rumors that
the troops would leave Pekin, and the
traders thought of their hidden loot,
they spoke in sweet tongue that was
full of gle, and told Of the mild win
ters here, with perhaps and occasional
sand storm. that was all. Now that we
are fairly in the clutches of the storm
king; now that their loot is safe they
tell us oomplacendy that this is nothing,
a mere foretaste Of the winter to come.
At the bank this morning the banker be
came friendly enough to TO evince mild
surprise that should consider it cold.
He drew picture Of a Pekn winter
that made the cosey corner Of ones fav-
orite cafe and the slippered comfort Of
an evening at home q mirage that fades
rapidly and vanishes literally half way
round the globe, leaving a long blank
waste of dreary sand sand scudding
sea.
In northern China the year is but
nine months, the year ia which men
work and buy and sell and cheat; IT
ends when the frost descends, and the
icy wind brings that binding cloud of
sand that has gradually buried one city
Of Pekin and built another on the roofs
Of its buried ruins. Then come the dread
months, the period when Cinnamon bar
their doors against the elements. warm
their stone beds, and lie in dens Ike
bears; a period Of Information
When any one has read the Arabian
Nights and dreamed through its Won
derful pages. taken glorious flights in
the air on the back of roc, and been
transported by q kind genius to palaces
Of the Princess Of China. it were better
a thousand times for thtat one to read
them again in a comfortable easy chair
and watch the princess and the palaces
bUilded by genil in the glowing embers
within an ingle nook than to come to
China In the Arabian Knights" of our
dreams the streets were filled with mot
ley crowds. Tt is true that they are not
all people we should care 10 know. some
are cat-throats adventures, maRicians.
There IS much talk Of gold and Jewels
and scented water. These people Of that
wonderful book have senses so delight
fully refined that one lady has her new
" welded husband beaten with rods be-
cause he only dipped his fingers after
eating garlic, instead OF washing away
this faint
7 shah never forget the shock of my
first plunge into the cold realism Of
modern China. To find instead Of the
bright colored streets Of the China of
fancy. a country STEPPED in filth and
peopled by ilth-sodden multitudes. the
dogs the swine the foul air of the
streets the human traders in offalt The
allies are trying to better things: per-
haps the new measures are worse than
the old neglect Now the streets are
cleaner. but what story does every va
cant yard and ruined building tell? And
those who 20 within the houses insist
that there the evil is worse We have
simply driven il within. Our senses are
not SO rudely offended. but are we not
propogating a greater evil, producing
state Of affairs likely to cause an out
break of disease more dreadful than the
thing we are aiming to stop
The average Filipino is not particular
about using the same cloth To wipe the
liable. clean a dirty bucket. and dry your
teacups. hut your northern Chinaman
adds the kitchen floor. fish scales and
the SCOT from a dirty saucepan to his
list. One used to campaigning could for
give all that il the hoy could only re-
frain from calling the result cleanl That
It word for which I have as yet failed
10 discover a Chinese equivalent 7 can
appreciate a northern Chainaman's hor-
TOR Of water-Pekin water Considering
the prevailing conditions Of the city and
considering that all the water comes
FROM wells usually not thirty feet deem.
aid that the liquid product curdles milk.
and that good honest soap refuses 20
lather in IL after half an hcut's coax
ing YOU can perceive that there are GER
tain obstacles 10 tho Chinese acquiring
that art which is next 10 godliness. ADD
to these reasons the fact that fuel IS 50
scarce that even dried grass is collected
20 help the winter fire and that the
shock Of cold water would prove fatal.
and we grasp A few Of the reasons
which explain this general unwashed
condition The streets are examined
with specimens who never part company
with. any Of their garments from one
years end 10 another The result is &
harmony in gray Long rohes and fsad-
ded Jackets which may have been RED
,or blue originally ere now almost the
color Of the dirty sand IN the roadway.
The Chine Sc take infinite pains 20
create a thing and none whatever to
keen &c IN order All along the main
highways are shops with wonderfully
carved fronts and tan posts, upheld by
work IN Wrought-iran Here and there
q new one tells us the history of FITS dirt
ca6ed 0eiehbcrs. The tan pillars were
once sllded ana the panels were re5 and
green' the carving was as Respondent
with gilt as The car which bears the
nymphs az travelling circus But the
dust blow and settled In the creyices
Then the snow came and made Paste
which froze % the lacquer ana Che gold
Then the sun burned Ii and mere dust
piled OF ton. The tiles which were Vel
low and blue. and glazed 70 shed the
rain. have lost their shining skins. AMI