Arizona republican., 1911-04-29

wash of rice flour paste, and rouge
dabbed on here and there in what we
should call the wrong places, gave
her face the wooden look of a Dutch
doll and her wooden walk on the poor
lily feet three inches long kept up
the resemblance.
we were ushered with many polite
| speeches into the guest hall, a bare,
uninteresting room with walls that
| had once been whitewashed and a lat
ticed window with paper panes that
had once been white. The chief furni-
| ture consisted of a table placed
| squarely against the center of the
wall with a ponderous chair at
either end.
The Tai Tai sat affair off looking
more wooden than ever with her
shrunken legs like a couple of large
ninepins encased in purple trousers.
Had it not been or the relatives
and the hand maidens conversation
would have tagged considerably She
came from the south and was still
unaccustomed to northern mandarin.
Fortunately among the relatives a
vivacious good looking girl with a
merry laugh kept the ball rolling. The
more she talked, however, the more
silent did the Tai Tai become, and
our suspicious were aroused.
Meanwhile the tea was brought in,
and dainty cup covered with an in
verted saucer was placed beside each
guest According to etiquette, we ig
nored its existence until the Tai Tai
requested us to taste of ii, whereupon,
carefully raising our cups in both
hands, we made feint of offering
them to her Declining the honor,
she repeated her request that we
should ourselves partake of the tea,
and formalities thus concluded. we
gave a suZzling sip to show apprecia-
ton.
we We're careful to hold the cup
in both hands and not To remove the
lid or inverted saucer but merely to
tilt il slightly to one side. Sponge
cakes dipped in oil and savory pas
tries stuffed with dates were piled
upon the table beside use. the at
tendants handling them with fingers
which made no pretense of being
clean
The Tai Tai was becoming more
wooden than ever. when by a fOrtu
nate chance my companion. who
spoke the language fluently and was
well versed in Chinese etiquette. made
the discovery that the merry faced
conversational girl was an III Tai
Tain other words, the secondary |
wife. Realizing the difficulties of
the situation. she was careful hence |
sf..r,
very pointedly To the real Tai Tai and |
thereby probably warded off a family !
quarrel after our departure.
Luckily for people like myself
whose knowledge of the language is
distinctly limited, there are various
topics to be discussed with a new
guest, which need but slender vo-
(which is your honorable king
DOM they ask.
My inferior kingdom is England
They soon discover if one is un-
and this affords some sur
prise. for spinsters of a certain age
are hardly ever met with in China.
An explanation that in England we
please ourselves as to whether we
will marry or not only increases the
You seek to divert
their attention by inuiring how many
gentlemen they have
meaning sons) If they reply that
they have one or more hasten To- CON
graduate. and So it goes on.
Finally your attempts to finish
your tea having been frustrated by
the attendant. who fills the cup up
again before it has a chance og get
ting empty. leave takings are com
menced You fear YOU have been very
little company, and the Tai Tai muir
murs something deprecatory about {
herself You beg her to detain her
steps and she implores you to walk 4
slowly At each corner YOU all bow, ;
nugging your fifth rib with clasped
hands in the orthodox fashion. and
The progress to the outer gates is
hating in the extreme.
My next visit was of a very diff
rerent character. We spent the after
noon with a respectable farmers fam
ly. The farmers wife welcomed us
warmly and RECALLED us on tea and
boiled eggs-a dish of twenty or thir
-y boiled eggs, to be eaten without
bread or salt or any accessory what
.ver except the tea.
The farmhouse was built of mud
With walls two feet thick. and the
windows were almost non existent.
The place looked poverty stricken, but
he farmers wife spoke of recent :
Crops had done well and
She and her husband had been able
@ purchase that which they had been
wanting for some years past.
she took us to see the newly :
bought treasures. We peered in
through the door and the good wo-
mans face beamed with pride and
pleasure. There they were straight
n front of us, made of polished wood,
lack as ebony, two magnificent cof-
ms"