on should not be made a tempting
place of refuge and vacation; if so in times of cold and hunger it will be
filled with those who would rather suffer shame than work.

Another thing the people who cry loudly against our old-time Courts of
Justice do not understand, is the crushing, grinding, naked poverty
that causes the people in this over-crowded province to commit most
brutal deeds. The penalties must match the deeds, and frighten other
evil-doers. If the people do not fear death, what good is there in using
death as a deterrent; and our Southern people despise death,
because of their excessive labour in seeking the means of life. But--
what a subject for a letter! I can see thee send for a cup of thy fragrant
sun-dried tea, mixed with the yellow flower of the jessamine, to take
away the thoughts of death and evil and the wickedness of the world
outside thy walls. It will never touch thee, Mother mine, because the
Gods are holding thee all safe within their loving hands.

Thy daughter,
Kwei-li.

9
My Mother,
I have most joyful news to tell thee. My father has arrived! He came
quite without warning, saying he must know the changing times from
word of mouth instead of reading it in papers. He has upset my
household with his many servants. My father keeps to his old ways
and customs and travels with an army of his people. His pipe man,
his hat man, his cook, his boy-- well, thou rememberest when he
descended upon us in Sezchuan-- yet he could bring ten times the
number, and his welcome would be as warm. The whole town knows
he is our guest, and foreigners and Chinese have vied one with the
other to do him honour. The foreign papers speak of him as "the
greatest Chinese since Li Hung-chang," and many words are written
about his fifty years' service as a high official. The story is retold of his
loyalty to Her Majesty at the time of the Boxer uprising, when he
threatened the foreigners that if Her Majesty was even frightened, he
would turn his troops upon Shanghai and drive the foreigners into the
sea. I wonder if the present government can gain the love the Dowager
Empress drew from all who served her.

My father was the pioneer of the present education, so say the
papers, and it is remembered that his school for girls in the province
where he ruled, nearly caused him the loss of his position, as His
Excellency, Chang Chih-tung, memorialised the throne and said that
women should not have book learning; that book