rbaric splendor you read about, and about the first
thing that comes up to the conventional idea of what is Oriental. The
Hindoo influence is much stronger here than anywhere else we have been,
or else really Thibetan, I suppose, and many things remind one of the
Moorish. The city of Peking was a thousand years building, and was laid
out on a plan when the capitals of Europe were purely haphazard, so
there is no doubt they have organizing power all right if they care to
use it. The museum is literally one of treasures, porcelains, bronzes,
jade, etc., not an historic or antiquated museum. It costs ten cents to
get into the park here and much more into the museum, a dollar or more,
I guess, and we got the impression that it was fear of the crowd and the
populace rather than the money which controls; the rate is too high for
revenue purposes.

PEKING, June 1.

We have just seen a few hundred girls march away from the American Board
Mission school to go to see the President to ask him to release the boy
students who are in prison for making speeches on the street. To say
that life in China is exciting is to put it fairly. We are witnessing
the birth of a nation, and birth always comes hard. I may as well begin
at the right end and tell you what has happened while things have been
moving so fast I could not get time to write. Yesterday we went to see
the temples of Western Hills, conducted by one of the members of the
Ministry of Education. As we were running along the big street that
passes the city wall we saw students speaking to groups of people. This
was the first time the students had appeared for several days. We asked
the official if they would not be arrested, and he said, "No, not if
they keep within the law and do not make any trouble among the people."
This morning when we got the paper it was full of nothing else. The
worst thing is that the University has been turned into a prison with
military tents all around it and a notice on the outside that this is a
prison for students who disturb the peace by making speeches. As this is
all illegal, it amounts to a military seizure of the University and
therefore all the faculty will have to resign. They are to have a
meeting this afternoon to discuss the matter. After that is over, we
will probably know what has happened again. The other thing we heard was
that in addition to the two hundred students locked up in the Law
Building, two students were taken to t