Evening star., 1901-10-02
THE COURT OF CHINA.
The Empress Dowager Reported to
Suffer From MelanchoIia.
Prom the London Glob,

The Empress Dowager Reported to
Suffer From MelanchoIia.
Prom the London Globe
The Chinese newspaper. Sin-wen-bao
gave recently some details concerning the
emperor and empress dowager, and the fol-
lowing verbatim translation of them may
be OF equal interest:
Since her arrival at Si-ngan-fu the wild
owed empress has been continually H. She
suffers chiefly from an oppressive feeling
on the chest: she is melancholy, and cannot
sleep at night, however, she takes no med
icine. but she summons the eunuchs fire.
| quently, 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 health
Ter than he was in Pekin: he takes part in
frequent bodily exercise with the keenest
interest. and is delighted to play games
with the eunuchs. but IL anything does not
happen 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 dow
ager ordered the chief eunuch to make an
accurate list of them, and without showing
any avarice she had them distributed
among the officials who had accompanied
her from Pekin- When the eunuch who
drew up the list showed the presents to the
empress dowager she evinoed the greatest
JOY, mingled with certain amount of
straint, for, although the presents gladdened
her, yet she was saddened by the thought
that she had been obliged to demand them.
The emperor wept bitterly when he saw
the presents from the province of Chilli
| OF late he has sought solitude in the gar
| dens, but so soon he sees a eunuch
he either tries to hide himself behind a
| gate or runs OF his rooms. No one knows
how to explain this curious conduct on the
emperor's part, but it is believed that he is
| suffering from the idea that he is being fol-
| lowed
THE daily expenses of the imperial kitch-
en amount to m more than 200 Ian, or
about f2S. This outlay is sanctioned by the
| governor, Sen and the empress dowager.
" hen the question of expense was dis
cussed the latter remarked, When we were
| in Pekin .he cost of our food was many
times greater, but now we must restrict
our daily expenditure Every day a
eCnuch lays a menu before the empress
dCwager; this contains over a hundred
dishes, which are chiefly fish. ducks and
cfickens, prepared in many different ways.
Since the presents have come in from the
various provinces the imperial table has
been enriched by dishes made of swallows
| nests. and trepang. The emperor likes q
vegetarian diet and he eats meat very SPAR
ingly. As a rule he orders only two or
| three dishes day. Macaroni and vermi-
celli are the favorite dishes of the en-
press dowager, and of late she has ordered
that the number of dishes shall be reduced.
and now only ten dishes are prepared in
stead of a hundred. During the last sum-
mer both 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 with the
approach OF spring and the dry season. they
| ceased to drink milk, and the cows have
| been handed over to the district aut uthorities
| who receive 200 Ian monthly for their keep.
| Both the emperor and the empress dow
| ager left Pekin so hurriedly that the only
| wardrobe they could take with them was
| the clothes which they were then wearing
But new clothes have been received grad
| ually from Pekfn, and now both their mai
| estes can appear in the dress suitable 70
| their rank, and such they wore in Pekin
| Since their arrival at Si-ngan-fu neither
| the emperor nor the empress dowager nor
| the heir apparent has left the walls of the
| palace. The heir apparent, a son of Prince
| Tuan. had taught little dog some tricks
| When the emperor heard of this he conn
| manded that the dog should appear before
| him; the heir apparent sent the dog with
| one of the eunuchs. For this act of DISC
| bedience the emperor punished the heir ap-
| parent severely, and the consequence Is
| that they have become deeply estranged
| During the journey to Si-ngan-fu the
| common people had an opportunity of see-
| ing their emperors face Before Si-ngan-
| flu was reached the empress dowager said
| to the minister, Wan-wen-shao: I must
| see the people and learn for myself how
| they suffer and work Thus it was that
| the people were allowed to see their majes-
| ties when the latter passed through towns
| anu Villages, OF WneI lney spent the DlS0t
| at such places. During the journey their
| majesties could look out from their litters
and see their subjects at work in the fields:
the people showed no fear in looking at
the imperial cortege, and orders were given
that they should be neither punished nor
| prosecuted for so doing. The emperor OBJ
| served the life of the people with great as
| tonishment, for he had never hitherto seen
| anything similar. During the journey the
| empress dowager turned herself to the
| emperor and said: None of us could ever
have supposed that our people are so poor
| After reaching Si-ngan-fu the empress
| dowager ordered the governor. Sen, to set
| on foot a charitable fund for assisting the
poor and also to establish public kitchens
for supplying water and rice free of cost:
at the same time Sen was reminded by his
| imperial mistress that he had better devote
| his best attention to her wishes in this re-
spect.
| deavoring to return to Pekin, but as she
| receives terrible details from the north she
| cannot make up her mind to take the STEP
On the tenth day of the second month that
| is, on March %, she ordered an imperial
decree to be issued announcing the return
| to Pekin, but as she heard that negotia-
| tions for signing the Russo-Chnese treaty
| had come to a standstill she postponed the
return. Preparations were at once made
| for passing the summer at Si-ngan-fu, and
| mats were hung up around the rooms OF
the temporary palace there to lessen the
| summer heat"
The Ideal school Teacher.
| From the Forsm.
The teacher must teach more and know