hists, three by the Lamas, and three by the
Taoists, after which the Buddhists take their turn again. Everything
else remains much as I have described it. The family, servants,
everybody in mourning, and all business put aside to make way for this
ceremony of mourning, mourning, mourning, when they ought to be
rejoicing, for the poor old Princess had been a paralytic for years and
was far better out of her misery.

The Princess frequently sent her cart for me during these days. Once
when I was going through the court where there were vast quantities of
things to be burned for the spirit, all made of paper, I noticed some
that were so natural that I was unable to distinguish between them and
the real things. Especially was this true of the furniture and flowers
like that which had been in her apartments. There were great ebony
chairs with fantastically marked marble seats, cabinets, and all the
furniture necessary for her use. Among these things I noticed on the
table a pack of cards and a set of dice, of which she had been very
fond, and a chair like the one in which the eunuchs had carried the
crippled old Princess about the court, and I said to the young Princess
who accompanied me:

"You do not think your grandmother will require these things in the
spirit world, do you?"

"Perhaps not," she replied, "but she enjoyed her cards and dice, and
the chair was such a necessity, that, whether she needs them or not, it
is a comfort to us to get and send her everything she liked while she
lived, and it helps us bear our sorrows."

XIX

Chinese Princes and Officials

In any estimate of the forces which lead and control public opinion in
China, everywhere from the knot of peasants in the hamlet to the
highest officers of state and the Emperor himself, the literati, or
educated class, must be given a prominent position. They form an
immense body, increased each year by the government examinations. They
are at the head of the social order. Every civil officer in the empire
must be chosen from their number. They constitute the basis of an
elaborate system of civil service, well equipped with checks and
balances which, if corrected and brought into touch with modern life
and thought, would easily command the admiration of the world.--Chester
Holcomb in "The Real Chinese Question."

XIX

CHINESE PRINCES AND OFFICIALS

One day while the head eunuch from the palace of one of the leading
princes in Peking was sitting