The chronicle=news., 1913-01-30
YUAN SHIH-K'AI
REPUBLICS HEAD
4 MAN OF CHARM

An insight Into tn. remarkable
personality OF Yuan Shih-kaI. not as
an Empcror's Viccroy nor as the
president OF the new Chinese rcpub.
lie. but hs man OF family and al
individual charm. was given by DR.
famci Kin In an interview yesterday
DIR. famci II u Chimes, woman wha
received her medical training here In
New York and who on her return Ia
China six years ago established there
"a training school for nurses. She
speaks English with absolute facility
and without n trac. OF accent.
Yuan Shih-k'ai II one OF the most
remarkable men | have ever met
said Dr. Samci. lie Is u military
man. not scholar: u man Of action
and OF splendid executive ability.
hut he Is also one OF the most cour.
tcous and democratic men I ever
knew. | saw him daily In his own
home for three months and became
iacIaulntcd with u side OF his person
aii'y which few persons see.
lit was during his cxil. from court
when he was living on his estate In
the ionnn province. His brother
had suffered stroke OF npopicxy.
which left on. side OF his body paral-
yzcd Yuan was devoted to this
brother and sent all over the king
dom for the best doctors and treat
mcnt. lie secured Two nurses from
my school and ! went daily to see
that they CAV. treatment properly.
wv" were giving III" patient cleo
trio baths and massage, which took
an hour or more each day. While
they wcr" going on Yuan would sit
by his brother and talk on every con-
ccivablc subject, to try TO keep tho
invalid intcrcs;d. lie was Kindness
itself. And In the course Of those
conversations ] came to have an i'm
men-e admiration for him.
He had never hcssa outside OF his
own country. except when he was tho
official resident in Corca. lie doe,
not understand any Language bu; his
own. Yet he seemed to be thorough :
ly abrras, Of outside progress. One
day wc were talking Of installing an
rclcctrical plant In the house to pro-
vide the currcn, for tho baths and
he spoke 70 iamiliarly OF volts and
nmpcres and the current which GER
him how he came to know 10 much OF
a t.achnical subject.
Oh. he said. I have installed
several electric plants In houses |
have occupied
Vie seemed to know something
about everything. He had expert
mentcd with breeding horses to i'm
prove the native stock. lie had en-.
ploycd the enforced leisure OF his
exile in creating q marvellous land
scnpe garden on his estate. where
he had gathcrd all the trees and
plants. native and foreign. which
could be made to grow there. | asked
him about improving the quality of
the cotton grown In the province. lie
had Experimental with that too.
But when I suggested his trying
to help his district by getting better
seed for them and teaching them i'm
proved methods. he said he would be
glad to do 1t. hut that he couldn't
because any move OF that sort was
frowncd on by the Manchu dyasty.
They accused him of trying to buy
the hearts OF the people.
His establishment was immense: :
the house. with It's qualifications. as
large as a village or course his
household had to he large, as he had
about eight wives and twenty-five
children and grandchildren. That
seems dreadful to the Occidental. but
he was not only strictly within the
Chinese law. but also within Chinese
etiquette. Some Chinese men who
have several wives so also to outside
houses. Yuan Shih:k'ai never did
that.
1T is also considered very bad in
China for man to have a mistress
before he is married. The same pur-
ity is expected OF both the man and
the girl according to Chinese ideals.
As for the plural wives. there is only
one first wife. The others are only
secondary ones, like the handmaidens
Of the time of Abraham.
Lady Yuan. the first wife. Is n
typical country lady of the old re-
sime. She does not read or write.
but she is u competent manager OF
the household. Yuan has had teach
crs for some of the younger wives
and probably Lady Yuan might have
been educated too If she had wished
But when tho new ideas became
current in China, she was n middle
aged woman. She Is older than her
husband, q thing very common In the
north of China. where 1t is customary
for a young man of about is to mar
ry q girl several years his senior.
"As an official, Yuan Shih-k'ni IL
democratic but extremely business
like. If you are received by him he
looks at you with his really beautiful
brown eyes and says most courteous
~, What do you want?' That is
what he desires to know. and at
once. If you waste time in vaguc
preliminaries. his secretary says,
Will you please keep to the point?
If you continue to be vague you arc
dismissed with the injunction to con-
slider the matter thoroughly and to
formulate your ideas. New York
! Sun.