The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-09-14

from now on must regard as hia
mother, and to whom, during his child
hood, he must be subservient. Sba
is the late Empress of China the Wiz
of WWang Su, who died last Noyem-
Der. She is the niece of the old en-
press ~dowager, and was first cousin
of the late emperor, whom She mar
ried little more than twenty years
ago. Her father was Duke Chow. a
noble Manchu. and her mother j.
Manchu lady. I was in Peking at the
time Of her marriage, and saw the
carts containing the girls from whom
Sc was chosen Cd their way to the
palace. According to law, the En-
perOr Of China can marry none but z
full-blOOded Manchu. 1t is also pro-
vided that when he reaches MARRIAGE
noble Manchu. and her mother is =
Manchu nobility etwee twelve and
eighteen are to so to the palace in
order that they may be looked over by
the empires ~dOwager, and the best
ones selected for the imperial consorts
This is what will occur fourteen years
from now, when little Pu vi is sixteen.
and it is just what took place in 1883.
when the empress doWager was picked
out as the wife Of Kwang Su. OF the
crowd which then came there were
only three who were kept, and the
chief Of these was Ye-hO-nO-Iah, who
now rules the palace. The other two
were MS 1ldJoSty ) secondary wives.
and were respectfully thirteen and
fifteen years Of age.
The selection was made by the en-
press dowager, and, as Ye-ho-no-lah
was her niece. the choice probably
went by favor rather than beauty. This
woman is now betWeen thirty and
forty years Of age. l am told she is
short and lean and that her face shows
considerable character. She has a
al" n ~ v1nv;nr oJ~oo~
large mouth and a long chin. Her
nose is bigger than that of most Chi
nese ladies, and her teeth are decayed.
She is said to be a woman of tact and
good sense. She has not the force
Of the old empress aoWager, and will
probably allow herself to be ruled by
the prince regent and the other high
Chinese officials. She will. however,
be supreme in the palace and will ave
much to do with the education and
training Of his imperial majesty.
Pu Yis Education.
And this brings me to the question
Of Pu YiS education. The officials
are already discussing what it shall
be, and the more progressive of them
want him trained along modern lines.
They p to hire foreign gov
ernesses to teach him the modern
languages, as is done by the imperial
families Of Europe, and he is to have
q knowledge Of our civilization. The
school books now in use in the new
Chinese schools are being examined
with a view to preparing some special
one for this little baby. He will be
made to learn the Chinese classics and
to commit the wisdom of ConfuCius
and Mencius. When he reaches the
right age he will have man teachers,
who, according to the old Chinese
custom, will remain IN their knees
While they instruct him. No ordin-
airy man is supposed to sfand in his
presence, although in the reformation
which China is now undertaking this
may be changed.
There is one thing sure, and that is
they will never whip little Pu Vi.
When KWang Su was little he had his
whipping boys, who studied with him
and recited the same lessons as he.
If his majesty did wrong the teacher
was allowed to whip one Of these boys.
and this was supposed to answer the
If not, the great dOWager
took the matter in hand and ordered
an eunuch to punish Kwang Su. The
same will probably be the rule as to
Pu Vi.
The Baby Emperor's Playthings.
This imperial infant will have all
sorts Of toys. The Chinese are famous
for making such things. They have
animals of wood, iron, paper and
cloth. They have mechanical toys
and toys which teach certain things.
The last mperor had many foreign
toys and the imperial baby will first
learn of the new civilization by play
things brought from abroad. He
will have railroad trains, monographs
and electrical car lines, and he may
perhaps ave Teddy Bears and Billie
Possums. He will have watches and
clocks Of all kinds. Indeed, there is
already a large collection of such in
the imperial palaces, and when the
last emperor was q boy he amused
himself by aking them to pieces and
trying to put them together again.
He did not always succeed, and the
old empress doWager was in constant