Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-04-19

Sian ana OF HeT NtgHL 10 tnut Guy
to sdpe her husbands life.
BY MAYLING SOONG CHANG.
CMme. Chang Kai-shekD
tcopyright,, 1897, by Nine. Chang Kali
shek and the North American Newspaper
Alliance, 1nc)
(AM rights reserved. Reproductions in
whole or in part forbidden)
SHANGHAI-These were days Of
increasing anxiety in Sian. The new
element Of doubt, injected by the atti-
tude Of suspicious officers, who might
at any moment seize all of us In an
effort to make certain Of their own
safeguards, produced tense nervous
ness all around us.
Subdued excitement charged the
whole atmosphere. No one knew what
might happen at any moment, the
armed guards posted in the house
being affected by it as much as we
were. AS T. v. Soong and I moved
from room to room in conference with
this man or that, their eyes always
held unspoken questions.
The only relief we had was when
we could get out into the snow
covered compounds and walked around
the cleared paths. At various points
inside the grounds sentries, armed
with submachine guns, were posted
day and night to prevent any one
getting in, but outside the walls more
were posted to prevent the general
issimo from getting out.
The watchful guards were puzzled as
we circled and circled the paths and
wondered why we laughed. They did
not know we had to force ourselves
to do so to remove the tension.
T.. v. Busy in Conferences.
During this time T " was kept in
cessantly occupied with conferences
with this group of officers or that. He
seemed to be involved in a perpetual
motion contest Of defeating one set
of final" arguments and requirements,
to be Immediately confronted with a
dozen others just as final and just
as impracticable. From the point of
view of the SIAN militarists. it was all
a matter of averting punishment for
what had been done.
Truly enough, our arrival split the
camp. Chang Hsueh-liang was held
suspect from the moment Mr.. DON
aid arrived, but when, after my
talks with him, he more strongly as
serted his views in favor of allowing
the generalissimo to leave as soon as
possible, he was then classed as lone
of U.s." and the danger was constant
that he and the rest of us would be
arrested. That is why arrangements
that were made by the leaders at one
conference were upset at the next
through the influence of some ques-
tioning person encountered in be-
tween times. There seemed no end to
suspicion and doubt
ut is because the government
troops are coming closer and closer"
I told the generalissimo But he
was not so much help just then; he
was so tired of the shilly-shallying
the impossible arguments and the
general atmosphere of suspicion that
he did not care whether he left Sian
or not.
"I1l refuse to CO." he exploded at
one time, IF this kind of thing con-
tinues"
Patience Important.
I realized more than ever that pa
thence and control of temper were
of paramount Importance, and that
every effort should be made to gain
the confidence of the .recalcitrant
leaders in the sincerity of our prom
ises that, If they repented, the gen.
eralissimo would recommend that they
should not be punished and that civil
war would not be pursued to SUD-
press them.
We heard nothing of menaces from
the Reds in all this time. Quite con-
trary to outside beliefs, we were as
sured that they were not interested
in OBTAINING the generalissimo. In
stead, they preferred his quick re-
lease. But we never forgot that their
armies were out in the distance
silent now, but menacing and danger
GUS. We were assured that they had
given up their old policies and prac-
ticeS. We refused to believe it. It
Is a ruse, we told ourselves and the
Sian people, and we will not swallow
ruseS.
All day long kept going in and out
OF the room to keep the generalissimo
informed OF every new development.
At one Of these recitals nv amah
(woman attendant) silently motioned
me to go to the next room. She whis-
pered in my ear, Madame, please
20 rrr1oo
guards outside had their ears glued
to the door. But I stopped them" she
concluded triumphantly.
"How?" I inquired.
Il just stared at them very hard
and told them they must be listen.
ing to something very interesting that
also would like to hear. And I
stood there till they went away"
Han-Chen Brings Mediator.
Every effort was being made by
Han-chen to break down the doubts
OF his associates. He brought to me
one man said to have influence with
them, and spent two hours discuss
ing the whole situation with him. He
went into the whole problem Of the
northwest, to illustrate the grievances
which led to the detention Of the
generalissimo.
It interested me to hear him reiter-
ate again and again that apart from
the generalissimo there was no one
capable of being the leader of the
country at this period Of its existence
When he referred to the grievance
concerning the defense Of the country
he said, I'VE do not say that the
generalissimo does not resist agrees
sion, but we saw he does not resist