The farmer and mechanic., 1909-12-07

should be paid the proper respect.
Mr.. Martin and myself each had
Chinese cards ready for the occasion.
These were of the size of a page of
note paper. We're bright red in color.
and bore the Chinese characters rep
resenting our names Theywere ia
ken by the officials into the yamen
and a few moments later the vice
rov. accompanied by a dozen retain
ers, interpreters and deputies. all fine
looking Chinese dressed in silk gowns
came forth. The viceroy put his
two yellow hands together, and shook
them at us in Chinese fashion, bow
ing low he did so. We folded our
hands and did him one better by bow
ing still lower. His excellency then
led us through room after room un-
til we came into long hall, in which
was dining table. set with plates of
| bananas. oranges, apples and pears,
as we'll as dishes of assorted biscuits,
which had evidently been imported
in tins.
The viceroy directed the American
consul to take the chair at his right,
and placed me at his left. the seat of
honor in China Cups of delicious
were now brought in. q bottle of
champagne was opened, and d glass
of the latter placed before each of US.
We did not touch the tea nor the
champagne until the close Of the in
terView, and then not before his ex-
cellency had raised his own glass and
begged US to drink. Chinese etiquette
provides that guest must not drink
until after his host, and also that the
caller must never begin drinking un-
til his host has indicated his pleasure
The ViceroN of Hukwang.
My talk with the vicerOy was car
ried on through an interpreter. a
| Chinese who speaks English as we'll
as l do. 1t lasted an hour, and as We
sat thus touching elbows I had a
chance to study the viceroy. Chen
kwei-Lung is the personification Of
the typical well-fed Chinese Official
He is a fine looking man of medium
height, weighing l Judge, about 200
pounds. He stands straight and
walks with a swing of the arms re-
minding one Of the mobiles of Korea.
He had on today long black silk
gown with lining of the hitest of
lam bskin. Below this showed out
black velvet boots, and above it rose
his big head, which was crowned with
black hat whose brim was turned
up all around, and whose crown was
Ornamented by long peacock feath-
er fastened there to a button. The
feather extended out for eighteen
inches back Of the hat and it bobbed
up and down as he shook his head
while he talked. Out of the back
of the hat hung long queue Of an
Oily Dlack nue..
/ His excellency's hands rested on
the table in front of him They were
as soft as velvet, and / venture that
| they have never done a stroke Of
rough work They could not and
preserve the fine finger nails. The
nails on the hand nearest me were an
inch long, and were as we'll kept as
though cared for by one of our fair
manicuristS.
China's New Constitution
The viceroy opened the interview by
asking me the usual questions as to
how long l had ben in China and
whittier was going. He spoke kindly
of the United States and i'll referring
! to our return Of the Boxer indemnity
said that his people from one end of
/ the country 20 the other felt grateful
to US, and that they were glad 20 be
able to send SO many students to be
educated in the American schools. At
this Point the consul remarked that l
was al author Of school books and
had written some text books on geo 81
raphicaI subjects. This evidently i'm
proved my standing in the vtccroy's
eyes and he talked of the modern
educational movement in China, say
ing that it had come to stay and that
there would eventually be up-to-datc
public schools in every city and town.
| asked as 10 the new constitution.
His excellency replied:
There is no doubt that China VIII
have Il constitutional government.
Our plans foT il are we'll established,
and the preparations are now going
on 1t is a .rreat task TO reor..lli &c
a government like ours. We have
been moving along our present Inc
for over a. thousand years and we
have to introduce our new 3dif.lTliS-
tratiye methods step by step. We
have a fixed plan for educating the
people to the enW govern nent and
this is already i'll operation over the
empire Our educational plan rams
through eight years. and at the end
Of that time We shall have a parlia-