New-York tribune., 1905-11-05

have taken her to be between Inlrty-HVe oi
forty Being Manchu, she does not bind her
feet, and being a widow she does not make up
her face much. Powder and rouge are used
chiefly by young and unmarried women or
women who have husbands, and these use them
so lavishIy as almost to conceal their features
1.-THE Empress Dowager is petite, with an ex-
quiste figure of perfect proportions. Her hands
and feet are beautiful In coloring she may best
be described fair brunette. She has very
clear bright black eyes. a smooth skin a
rather large mouth, with full lips closing over
regular white teeth and a brilliant smile
I'm dress she is what the French call Co
quette.' She is a great lover Of beautiful colors
and gives much attention to getting up new eff
fects of colors While Chinese fashions were set
thousands of years ago, yet each reign modtfles
them and what the Empress wears Is of course,
considered de rigueur. Besides herself dressing
exquisitely and with great consideration for
what is becoming to her, she demands an equal
amount Of care in dress from those about her,
and l have known her to insist on greater ele-
gance where she thought court lady was dress
ing too simply for her position.
Her majesty has a passion for French per-
fumes. but also has quantities of perfumery
made in the palace under her own eye. She is
given TO experimenting with perfumes to pro-
duce new odors and is very fond of having the
subtler of the dried flowers made into sachets.
Here is a scent bag just as she gave it to
me through one of the eunuchs one morning"
Miss Carl took from a mahogany wardrobe
little lavender bag crochetted in big meshes,
with long tassel of silk threads. Within was
little fiat paper packet from which emanated
sweet, faint perfume.
Il don't know what you call it." added Miss
Carl, but it is one of the Empress's own COM
pounding"
Among the gifts which the Dowager Empress
showered on the American artist were two fur
lined dresses.
Our rough tweeds of sombre garments har-
monize poorly with the wealth of color with
which the Chinese love to fill their houses" con-
tinued Miss Carl. Besides as the Chinese are
great people for ventflating, and have only little
portable stoves like baskets vases for heating
their apartments, is apt to be rather cold.
They have carpets, but the Empress does not
like them-she says they are dirty-and one has
pleased when the Empress DoWager a New
Years gift, presented with these two dresses
them made by the court ta1lors as surprise to
me. In cut they represent compromise be-
tween European and Chinese dress.
One of the dresses, in which later ] was pho
tographed, is of mauve satin. The skirt, which
her majesty copied from old print, rather
resembles one of the pleated skirts Americans
wearing. only with a broad embroid-
cred panel UP the front. The Jacket is cross
between one of my jackets and the ordinary
Jacket of the Chinese lady The entire costume
is lined with white fox but the collar is of sable.
was told that the Empress, who has a wonder
ful eye for color, tried three diffrent shades of
sable before she found one which she thought
would suit my hair
'The color of my hair" added Miss Carl.
laughing was most unfortunate, anyway. from
the Chinese point Of view. You see it is blond
The Chinese hate fair hair and give it 10 al their
stage demons Of course they were too polite to
remark on my misfortune, being the most polite
people. I believe, earth, but l couldn't help
knowing how they felt because I attended the
plays that We're given in the palace theatre
There the demons always had blond hair.
Now. not only have fair hair but 10 make
my situation still more desperate. my hair
curls a little, and curly haI the Chinese, being
a nation of black, straight hair. detest. Curly
hair will not keep nice and smooth. you know.
Zone day one of the young princesses naive
girl said to Oh did know rhare'S
a wonderful vegetable hair dye that actually
promotes the growth of the hair? If it did not
make your hair black it would al least darken
with the dress went a So bic hat, for Chinese
women like to wear something their heads,
both summer and winter. This has an en-
broidered crown of lavender satin with long
satin streamers embroidered in gold silk good
luck emblenns. This. TOO. is copied from old
print. In front is placed a princesss button,
which is worn only by ladies' Of the court. and
above that IS the flaming pearl of the dynasty
The flaming pearl, by the way. is pearl from
which radiates rays of light. This. the symbol
of the unattainable is the eternal guest of the
double dragon of China. Although rule
wore European dress. yet in winter l always
wore those fur lined dresses for painting.
They were so warm"
Miss Carl spent from July to August. 10000,
Peking-
"They gave me a palace to myself said Miss
Carl. with a corps of servants, and two of her
majesty's interpreters They also placed a stu
do and several other rooms in the imperial pal
ace az my disposal. 1t was like living in the
Arabian Nights That the worst of tt
II had stayed there much longer should have
yielded to the soporifc effect of Chinese life and
philosophy"
Miss Carl says she learned to speak some
Chinese while in Peking the young princesses
showing much interest in teaching her. Even
the Empress Dowager took an interest in watch
ing the progress of the young American and
encouraged her to talk although she is such
a stickler for grammatical correctness" said
Miss Carl, II never yentured to talk with her
freely with the others
In China this royal parsonage is always called
the Dowager Empress. or the Old Buddha-