The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1908-11-19
TSI AN FOUGHT A
MAGNIFICENT FIGHT

strange calls reached the inner
ears of aged, palsied Isl An, dowa'
ger empress of China, in her dying
hours from IL generations of her
line of Manchu emperors? She is
dead and the mystery of her life
is dead with her.
History, a thousand years from
now, may say that once the fate of
the Manchu line rested in the
hands of a poor, sick woman of IA
years, and that, on her death bed
the sacred call of her ancestors
aroused her to defy the whole Chi
nese nation.
Diplomats. the world over, who
knew the pitiable plight of Isl An,
wondered whether, with her old
Bismarckian force. she would be
able to fulfill what she regarded
her duty by placing firmly on the
throne a Manchu emperor.
To them Tsi An was a real
woman, religious, ancestor worship
ing, proud. loving, sorrowful, re-
joicing, ambitious, loyal. But her
aim in life was religion, from the
Chinese standpoint, embodied in
loyalty to her ancestors. Their
spirit calls came to her from the
year 1884, when the Tartar Man
chus seized upon China, torn by
internal discussions, and placed
one of their kings upon the Chinese
throne. The vicissitudes that have
beset the Manchu line have been
many, but never, before Tsi Ans
time, has the dynasty been at so
low an ebb, physically, mentally
and numerically.
Into the silence of eternity had
passed, each in his time, the Man
chu emperOrs, some strong, some
weak leaving at last, upon the
shoulders of Isl An the duty of
drawing together the remnants of
the dynasty and forming, there
from, if possible, a new line of
Manchu rulers.
Tsi Ans call to duty came imme-
diately upon the death of Tsai Tel,
the Kwangsu emperor. She was so
i'll that public business had been
suspended for several days, but the
need of naming a Manchu success
sor was immediate. Prince Chun,
brother of the late emperor was
the logical selection. But the allied
powers in 1891 had protested
against an effort of Tsi An to name
him as heir presumptive. 1t would
have been little wonder if the
trouble burdened woman, almost
on the edge of her grave then, per-
haps sleepy for death, had hest
tated before the double danger of
arOusing China by renewing her eff
forts to aid the Manchus, and of
offending the powers by naming
Chun as regent.
But China learned the fire of Isl
An, the woman with a mission.
From the palace there came
shortly the imperial edict naming
Chun as regent.
Then, as if the little old woman
desired to bring on her troubles at
one stroke, Picking and the world,
within another hour, heard the
edict declaring Chun's son, Pu vi,
to be the heir presumptive. The
child is three years old, by Chinese
reckoning. If Tsi An could have
seen him seated on the throne of
China, she would have gone into
eternity to meet her long line OF
honorable Manchu ancestors, whom
she has faithfully worshiped all her
life, bearing to them the message
that, despite the Chinese nation
and, the allied powers of the world,
she had fought good fight, she
had kept the faith"
The extraordinary human side of
Tsi An was shown by her regard
for her grandhephews. She sum-
moned to the palace an American
girl, Mary Reynolds of Iowa, a
graduate of Carlton college, Mime
sofa, to teach the children. At an
other time she had her portrait
painted by Miss Kate Augusta Carl
of Louisville, KY. Pink teas were
not an uncommon thing at the dow
ager empress palalce. She liked
music, and when she could not hear
band she delighted in a music
box. She smoked little. Toys of
English or American make always
pleased her.
She possessed more than Roose-
veltian energy She arose, when
she was in her heydey, at 2 o'clock
every morning. Between and A
o'clock in the morning she re-
ceived her ministers. Five o'clock
saw her at luncheon. While she
was sitting for Miss Carl she set
the painting hour at 5 in the morn
ing. Her company smiles made her
appear, says Miss Carl, to be "a
charming hostess, anxious to