ithout dispute rules with autocratic sway. This
is the mother-in-law. When she dies the first wife takes her place as
head of the family. A concubine may be the favourite of the husband. He
may give her fine apartments to live in, many servants to wait on her,
and every luxury he can afford; but there his power ends. The first
wife is head of the household, is legally mother of all the children
born to any or all of the concubines her husband possesses. The
children all call her mother, and the inferior wives recognize her as
their mistress. She and her daughters, and daughters-in-law, attend
social functions, receive friends, extend hospitality; but the
concubines have no place in this, unless by her permission. When the
time comes for selecting wives for her sons, it is the first wife who
does it, although she may be childless herself. It is to her the brides
of these sons are brought, and to her all deference is due. In rare
cases, where the concubine has had the good fortune to supply the heir
to the throne or to a princely family, she is raised to the position of
empress or princess. But this is seldom done, and is usually remembered
against the woman. She is never received with the same feeling as if
she had been first wife.

One day I was asked to go to a palace to see a concubine who was ill.
In such cases I always went directly to the Princess, and she took me
to see the sick one. As we entered the room there was a nurse standing
with a child in her arms, and the Princess called my attention to a
blemish on its face.

"Can it be removed?" she asked.

I looked at it and, seeing that it would require but a minor operation,
told her it could.

While attending to the patient, the nurse, fearing that the child would
be hurt, left the room and another entered with another child.

"Now," said the Princess when we had finished with the patient, "we
will attend to the child." And she called the woman to her.

"But," said the woman, "this is not the child."

"There," said the Princess, "you see I do not know my own children."

But I left our friend receiving the morning salutations of her
household. These over, she dismisses them to their own apartments,
where each mother sits down with her own children to her morning meal,
waited on by her own servants. If there are still unmarried daughters,
they remain with their mother; if none, she eats alone.

Since Peking is in the same latitude as Philadelphia my lady h