tone, in which the pupils
followed her, evidently thinking it was proper Western music. I was
rather amused to see the younger pupils go through a dignified dance or
march to the familiar strains of "Shall we gather at the river," which
the eldest daughter played on the organ.

"The young ladies do not comb their hair in the regular Manchu style,"
I observed to the Princess.

"No," she answered, "we do not think that best. It is not very
convenient, and so we have them dress it in the small coil on top of
the head as you see. Neither do we allow them to wear flowers in their
hair, nor to paint or powder, or wear shoes with centre elevations on
the soles. We try to give them the greatest possible convenience and
comfort."

They were proud of their bits of crocheting and embroidery, each of
which was marked with the name of the person who did it and the date
when it was completed. Many of them were made of pretty silk thread in
a very intricate pattern, though I admired their drawing and painting
still more.

"Of what does their course of study consist?" I asked the Princess.

She went to the wall and took down a neat gilt frame which contained
their curriculum, and which she asked her eldest daughter to copy for
me. They had five studies each day, six days of the week, Sunday being
a holiday. They began with arithmetic, followed it up with Japanese
language, needlework, music and calisthenics, then took Chinese
language, drawing, and Chinese history with the writing of the
ideographs of their own language, which was one of the most difficult
tasks they had to perform. The dignified way in which the pupils
conducted themselves, the respect which they showed their teacher, and
the way in which they went about their work, delighted me. The
discipline it gave them, the self-respect it engendered, and the power
of acquisition that came with it were worth more perhaps than the
knowledge they acquired, useful as that information must have been.

The Princess Ka-la-chin, the fifth sister of Prince Su, is married to
the Mongolian Prince Ka-la. It is a rule among the Manchus that no
prince can marry a princess of their own people, but like the Emperor
himself, must seek their wives from among the untitled. These ladies
after their marriage are raised to the rank of their husbands. It is
the same with the daughters of a prince. Their husbands must come from
among the people, but unlike the princes they cannot raise them to