The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-08
ETH STORM CENTRE
 OF THE WORLD
Dr. R. Warren Conant.
ARTICLE ".

ARTICLE ".
 Of Pekin it is true, as of every other great city, that thousanus of its in- habitants live and die in the midst of it's neat. aust and nth without an ambition to pass outside to green fields and leafy shade. But of the city's wealth and fashion there is every year a lively exodus before the summer sets in, when the streets of Pekin are alter nately clouds of penetrating dust storms. or quagmires of the filthiest imaginable mud from rain storms which are like cloud bursts.
 Strange to say, this great city of be- tween 1000, 900 and 1000, 900 inhabitants possesses no water supply besides wells and cisterns. The well water is brackish and hard, partly because of the minerals in the soil, especially nit rate and soda. No more delicate at- tention can be paid to a newly arrived Caucasian than the sending of jar of clear cistern water; if he is wise he will not resent is as personal hint, but prize it highly.
 The immediate environs of Pekin are anything but inviting. As we pass out west through one of the great vaulted gateways of the city-really tunnel 50 feet long-we enter at once upon A bare sand plain. criss-crosssed by the ruts of countless wagons, and arched by pitiless heavens of burning brass If it is summer time.
 But before long the prospect i'm proves. As we proceed, grass and trees begin to spring up, farms and farmers huts appear; while in the distance west and north the cool dark line Of wooded hills is seen. This is the great Pekin plain, extending south for hundreds of miles, carpeted In spring with flowers, in autumn with ripe grain and fruit. Here is good example of the shiftlessness and con- servatism of the Chinese. Thousands may be starving m Tien Tsin, 100 miles away, while the farmers west of Pe- kin are burdencd with the fullness of their crops. There is no way of bring ing the two extremes together. and no one cares. What are a few thousand lives more or less!
 Nature here is luxuriant and persist ent. man is poor and negligent: con- sequently it is a frequent experience in travelling across the plain to come upon the remains of former grandeur, now undermined by water and over- grown by weeds. There is the famous stone bridge over the Hun Ho, resting on great stone arches and guarded by stone lions, so old that 1t was praised by Marco Polo in the Thirteenth cen- tury. Sometimes the traveller Is oblig- ed to ford a river, although there is q fine stone bridge standing in the water. The approaches have been neglected until they have disappeared, and no one has cared to rebuild them.
 All foreigners abandon Pehin in the early summer and flee to the shade and coolness of the hills. about ten miles west. On the hill slopes are many beautiful temples and parks. and the foreign legations rent temples as sum- mer residences. paying fancy prices. All but the British, who have bought ground and have put up their own buildings.
 It used to be no fun getting there. But since 1894 there has been road paved with large stone slabs. very fine for China. leading to the summer pal ace of the Empress in E-ho Park. But this freak of enterprise was not due to any public spirit. l: was part of the preparations then being made for grand anniversary celebration in honor of the Empress, celebration whlcn was sadly interrupted by the war with Japan.
 In a nearby park, one mile square, are the summer palaces of the Emper- or, partially restored since their de- struction by the French in 1S60 They are very beautiful. but are only shadow of their former grandeur. The destruction of 1860 was an act of in eXcusable vandalism, and if the like could be perpetrated by the Chinese Tn Paris or any other Christian capital the whole civilized world would rise up with righteous unanlmity to exc crate a deed of such heathensh atro- city.
 The summer palaces as they stood in 1860. were an Arabian Nights dream or magnifcence and beauty. Probably not Babylon or Rome certainly not Parls or London ever saw anything compar- able. Artists from every land had been employed for decades in producing the most exquisite examples of their skill from the most precious materials. The slightest inventory of the treasures there gathered would fill volumes.
 The storehouses were piled With bales of silks, precious stones by the hushel and bullion by the hundred weight The palaces were adorned with panels and statutes of solid gold, the finest marbles and frescoes. the most exouisite lacquer work ana carVlnss of every kind of rare and beautl1ui stone.
 
 the French as an act of vengeance. At the same time the soldiers were turned loose in the palaces in order that what the fire spared might not escape these bulls in a china shop. The soldiers pil- Ia ges by the cartload selzinG Chinese wagons for the purpose. but they de- stroyed in their wanton frenzy even more treasure than they stole. And England consented and shared in the thunder. That outrage the Chinese have not forgotten or forgiven. But then they are heather.
 Now the scene is different. Nature and man. working in harmony TOT once have healed the scars of 4o years ago. the blackened walls have been re- built or covered by the kindly vine. Pa-ta-chu. or the hill of the eight big temples Is the favorite gunner resort Inf the Pekingese anG~the foreign em- bassies. A stone paved walk leads up the hill from temple to temple, past marble bridges spanning natural ra- vines and aqueducts bringing down rool waters to miniature lakes and marble-lined ponds where gold fish glenm and the fragrant lotus blooms,