The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-10-19
OUR MINISTER
TO CHINA
BIZ Frank J. Carpenter.

,-acks-American Guns Guard the
malls and Our Cannons Command
she Chinese Capital-HOW Our
Minister Lives--His Chinese Inter-
nreters-OGiccrS of Our Army and
Nayy-The Sad Fate of Gen. Law
TONS Nar Horse.
tC0pvright, 1909. by Frank G.. Car
penter.
PEKING. China.
stand with me beside the great
over above the Gate of Chen Men
and look down upon the home Of
Uncle Sam in Picking. We are in the
center Of the wall which separates
,he Chinese and Tartar cities and in
The very heart of the Chinese capital.
The Legation city lies right below us.
we are sixty feet above it and high
over the vast mass of low tiled build
ings which form the two sister cities.
Turning to the south, we look over
business Picking, with it's thousands
of Chinese stores, and beyond it can
see the Temples Of Heaven and Agri-
culture, where the little emperor gets
down on his yellow knees and prays
for his people. 1t is there that he
sacrifices, and there he starts the
Eping blowing Tor the nation.
Now let us turn to the north. We
are facing the huge Tartar city. Its
residences are almost hidden in a
forest of low trees, but the temples
show out here and there and the inn
Derlal Guy Is I1Slll aI our front. me
legation quarter bumps up against it.
and Uncle Sans home adjoins the
wide road which leads to the Pink
Forbidden city, which is in the en-
ter of the Imperial city. 1t is there
that the baby emperor lives, and
there. surrounded by countless yellow
servants and 1000 pig-tailed eunuchs,
he is now squalling for his bottles
and nurses. That American marine
ut the g~uardhouse beside us could, by
lifting his rifle, send a ball into the
palaces. and the south-central gate,
which leads 20 them, is not 1000 feet
from where we are standing. See
how the yellow titles of the palace
roofs blaze under the sun and the
overs of the great gates stand out
against the blue sky. That road just
below us, which hugs the American
legation. goes on to the palaces. 1t
is the chief path of the officials on
their way to see his majesty, and
they must walk under Uncle Sans
walls a part of the distance.
The Legation City.
Now turn your eyes to the Foreign
city which extends afOng this wall to
the Hat-a-men, and to the wide street
which runs from that gate until it is
parallel with the palace entrance be-
fore us. 1t is perhaps q mile long
and half u mile wide forming a rec
tangle in the very heart OF official
dIO DuSIiISSS 1th1llS. HIS lfldSSINt
wall, as high as a four-story house
and so wide that fifty soldiers could
march abreast upon it's paved high
way, is the southern boundary. An
open space several hundred feet
broad, which was cut away
of all Chinese buildings, lies
between it and Hat-a-men street
on the east. and there is another
wide space along the whole northern
boundary. During the Boxer upris-
ing this foreign quarter was surround
I'd by Chinese houses from which the
natives shot at the barbarians within;
and on the northern boundary, OPP
pOslte where we are standing. betWeen
the English legation and the Imperial
lily was the Hanlin Library, one of
the largest in the world, with its tens
of thousands of volumes. 1t contained
literary treasures of vast value; but
The Chinese set it on fire in attempt
ing to drive away the defenders by
The heat and the smoke. We all
know the history of that terrible
siege, when for weeks the lives of
the Americans and Europeans hung
by a thread. and were only saved by
The troops marching on to Picking.
At the close the powers determined
that such a danger should never hap
pen again, and it was that resolution
which created the legation city of to-
LAY.
An Armed Camp.
What would you think OLA great
'rmed camp, filled with ammunition,
guarded by soldiers and surrounded
by walls, in the very heart Of LOnGOn,
ParIs, Berlin or Washington? That
IS what the Legation city is in Picking.
The r~ectansle [ have described is
made up of many walled compounds.
Each legation has it's own compound
or ~rOundS and each set of grounds
us W walls about il. The walls
ABOUT the American legation are at
east twelve feet i'll height, and the
waits OF some Of the OtherS are so
"Ide that the soldiers march upon
mem. The city is cut up by macad-
.1!lAe1 5trentS Mhich CROSS one an