The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-23
EMPRESS DoWA0ER OF CHINA
How She Gets Her Great Power ant
 Rules Over Her People.

G101 4G60 0V " 0NG6 SG Sxx4N A. How She Gets Her Great Power ant
 Rules Over Her People.
 Boston Transcript.
 When he had finished his lecture i.. Huntington Hall Thursday evening op Woman in China" the Hon. Chester Holcombe answered questions from the floor. and queries were fired at him in rapid succession for twenty minutes. He answered them with the same ease with which he has handled the various phases of Chinese life in his eight lectures and drew from the audience hearty applause for President Mckinley, Secretary Hay and the influence of Americanism in Chi. na in recent years.
 In his lecture he defined the status of the woman in three different periods of her life and explained wherin lies the great influence which the present Elm press Dowager exercises over the affairs of her nation. To quote his explanation, During the past three years the entire civilized world has been watching, won- dering at and criticising the conduct of one Chinese woman. as she has dethroned an Emperor. taken the Government of the Empire into her own hands, appoint ed successor to the throne, whom. in turn, she thrusts back into obscurity. de- fled all the armies of America and Flu rope, fled from the capital to a remote western city. where she established the seat of Government, and where she still was recognized by all Chinese as ths source of all authority, and from which she has but recently returned to Pekin bringing the deposed and reinstaed Elm peror with her, and where she now is, al exceedingly shrewd and able. but terri ply frightened, old woman. The present Empress Dowages has commonly been called by foreigners-never by Chinese-a usurper. She Is not that in any sense ot the word. But in all Chinese historl probably no circumstances have occurred which might serve to illustrate so com pletely the natural position and autocratic power of a mother as those of the last few years in which the Empress Dowage has played the most conspicuous part
 "The DowaEer is the sole survivin, widow of the Emperor Hsien Feng. who died in 1861. In later years, by proces of adoption known only in China, the present Empress Dowager becames tho grandmother of the present Emperor Actually she Is of no discernible relation ship to him. But. by that process of adoption. constantly practiced and every. where recognized in China, she Is his only surviving grandmother. And here Is the one source of power and authority, alike over him and over the Chinese race Not as Empress but as mother, she has the full right to rule under every foundation principle of the Chinese governmental sys- tenn. However, unwise. absurd and dis astrous to the empire any act or acts of hers may have been. they have been well within the limits of her authority accord ing to the Constitution and laws of the aVf fnTtr ntlTx h turning of the etire system of authority can either relieve or rob her of her rights not as Empress, but as mother
 In early life many Of the women in China commit suicide. One has no legal protection against her master. man. He may abuse her and neglect her, fail to provide for her wants. desert her and divorce her. In practice husbands di- vorce their wives for any reason, and for no reason. Any scrap of paper upon which the fact of divorce is written and stamped with the impression of the thumb of the husband is all that is necessary The most serious of all hardships which fall to the lot of the Chinese women come so bitter as to be unendurable and to end in self-destruction. She is betrothed in infancy or childhood to boy whom she has never seen. and whom, certainly she does not know. The betrothal Is q legal ceremony. no less binding than marriage She has absolutely no choice regarding whom or when she shall marry, and any expression of opinion, or semblance of in- terest in a matter which so vitally con- cerns her would be so sadly immodest as to ruin her reputation.
 The members of her own family take no part in the wedding ceremonies; usual lv thav he rated from them forever. and her rela- tionship is brolsen completely. She is dressed by her mother, and when her toilet is completed and the appointed hour has arrived for the wedding. large bag, made of red satin and brilliantly embroidered is drawn down over her head and shoulders to the waist, where 1t is tied; thus completely blinding her and pinioning lYer arms to her sides Meantime a procession has come from the house of the parents of her future hus- band. headed by band of music. and fin which the most conspicuous object is red sedan chair-the wedding chair borne by four or eight men. This chair Is brought close to the door of her room and she is half led and half carried to a seat in it. The curtains of the chair are closely drawn so that not a ray of light can enter. When she has been placed within it the door Is closed and locked by the girls mother. Such precautions are taken that the wedding chair shall be tightly closed and no one given even a glimpse of the Inmate that. in hot wealth. CT. at the end of a short journey, a dead bride may be delivered to the waiting groom. the poor girl having been suffo- cated.
 The lecturer also presented the brighter side of life, and. his account of how wo- man sometimes exercises her great in- fiuence was interesting. He said; The average Chinese old woman. be she the wife of boor or the consort of a prince, has one terrible weapon, which long continued exercise has rendered keener than a two-edged sword. and nimble be- yond belief. In force, volume. rapidity of action and general nastiness 1t is prob ably unrivaIed upon earth. It is her tongue. And when she allows it to play at full speed the boldest warrior who ever led armies to battle will, if he has