The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-10-16
THE COURT OF CHINA.
The Empress Dowager Reported to
Suffer From MeIancholin.
From the London Globe.

The Empress Dowager Reported to
Suffer From MeIancholin.
From the London Globe.
The Chinese newspaper, Sin-wen-bao,
gave recently some details concerning
the Emperor and Empress Dowager.
and the following verbatim translation
of them may be of equal interest:
Since her arrival at Si-ngan-fu the
widowed Empress has been continually
ill., She suffers chiefly from an oppres-
sive feeling on the chest; she Is mel
ancholy, and cannot sleep at night;
however, she takes no medicine, but
she summons the eunuchs frequently,
and then they have to massage the
small of her back for hours in the Chi
nese method. The Emperor, on the
other hand, is relatively much better
and healthier than he was in Pekin;
he takes part in frequent bodily eXer-
else with the keenest interest, and is
delighted to play games with the eu-
nuchs, but If anything does not hap
pen to please him then he scolds the
eunuchs roundly as if he really hated
them. When presents were coming
in from every province of the empire
the Empress OOWdSCI OIuGiCd AAiC NAAACA
eunuch to make an accurate list OF
them. and without showing an avarice
she had them distributed among the Of
fcials who had accompanied her from
Pekfn. When the eunuch who drew UP
| the list showed the presents TO the
Empress Dowager she evinced the
greatest 10y, mingled with a certain
amount of restraint, for, although the
present gladdened her, yet she was
saddened by the thought that she nad
been obliged to demand them. Inc
Emperor wept bitterly when he saw
| the presents from the province OF chi
Ii. OF late he has sought solitude IN
| the gardens, but so soon as ne sees
a eunuch he either tries to hide mini
! self behind a gate or runs 10 ms
| rooms. No one knows how 10 explain
| this curious conduct on the emperor .
mart. but it is believed that he Is SUI
| fering from the idea that he Is being
| followed.
THE daily expenses of the Imperial
kitchen amount to no more tnan wv
iar ar about e2S. This outlay is sane
| toned by the governor, sen ana tne
| Emnress Dowager. When the question
| of expense was discussed the latter
remarked. When we were in Pekln the
| cost of our food was many times sredt-
or hut now we must restrict our daily
expenditure" Every day eunuch
laws a menu before the Empress DOW
ager; this contains over a hunoreo
dishes which are chiefly fish, DUCKS
I'D chickens. prepared in many differ
emf WAYS. Since the presents nave
| come in from the various provinces
the imperial table has been enricned
NV dishes made of swallows nests ana
trepang. The emperor likes a. Vege-
tartan diet and he eats meat very
snaringly. AS a rule he orders only Two
or three dishes a day. Macaronl ana
vermicelli are the favorite dishes OF
the Empress powager, and OF late she
has ordered that the number of dishes
shall be reduced and now only ten
dishes are prepared instead OF num-
dred During the last summer Dotn
the emperor and the Empress DoWager
accustomed themselves to live on
milk diet and for this purpose SIX cows
were kept in the palace however, win
the approach of spring and the dry sea,
son, they ceased to drink mix, ana
the cows have been handed over TO
the district authorities, who receive
200 Ian monthly for their keep
| roth the Emperor and Empress
DowAger left Pekin so hurriedly that
the only wardrobe they could take
With them was the clothes which they
were then wearing. But new clotnes
have been received gradually from
Pekin, and now both their ma1esties
can appear in the dress sultaole u! 70
their rank and such as they wore IN
Pekin. Since their arrival at Si-ngan-
IN neither the Emperor nor the EN-
nress Dowager nor the heir apparent
has left the walls of the palace. Inc
heir annarent a son of Prince Tuan,
had taught a little dog some tricks.
When the Emperor heard OF this ne
commanded that the dog should appear
before him; the heir apparent sent the
doc with one of the eunuchs. For this
act of disobedience the Emperor pun
ished the heir apparent severely. and
the consequence is that they have be-
come deeply estranged.
"During the journey to Si-ngan-fu
the common people had an opportunity
Of seeing their emperor's face. Before
| Si-ngan-fu was reached the Empress
Dowager said to the minister, wan
wen-shao: L must see the people and
learn for myself how they suffer and
work Thus II was that the people
vvere allowed to see their majesties
when the latter passed through towns
and villages. or when they spent the
night at such places. During the jour
ney their ma jesties could look out from
their utters and see their subjects at
work in the fields; the people showing
no fear in looking at the imperial cor
teee. and orders were given that they
should be neither punished nor perse-
cuted for so doing. The Emperor OBJ
served the life of the people with great
establishment. for he had never hither-
10 seen anything similar. During the
Journey the Empress Dowsger turned
herself to the Emperor and said: None
OF us could ever have supposed that
our people are so poor After reach
ing gi-nRan-fu the Empress Dowager
ordered the governor, Sen, 70 set on
foot a charitable fund for assisting the
poor and also 10 establish public kitcb.
ems for supply water and rice free OF