me more characters mixed up together, one character for woman
and one for dart, and I don't know what else. Don't ask me how they
decided that earth and tree put together made Du, for I can't tell.
PEKING, July 19.
I met the tutor, the English tutor, of the young Manchu Emperor, the
other day--he has three Chinese tutors besides. He teaches him Math.,
Sciences, etc., besides English, which he has been doing for three
months. It is characteristic of the Chinese that they not only didn't
kill any of the royal family, but they left them one of the palaces in
the Imperial City and an income of four million dollars Mex. a year, and
within this palace the kid who is now thirteen is still Emperor, is
called that, and is waited upon by the eunuch attendants who crawl
before him on their hands and knees. At the same time he is, of course,
practically a prisoner, being allowed to see his father and his younger
brother once a month. Otherwise he has no children to play with at all.
There is some romance left in China after all if you want to let your
imagination play about this scene. The tutors don't kneel, although they
address him as Your Majesty, or whatever it is in Chinese, and they walk
in and he remains standing until the tutor is seated. This is the old
custom, which shows the reverence in which even the old Tartars must
have held education and learning. He has a Chinese garden in which to
walk, but no place to ride or for sports. The tutor is trying to get the
authorities to send him to the country, let him have playmates and
sports, and also abolish the eunuch--but he seems to think they will
more likely abolish him. The kid is quite bright, reads all the
newspapers and is much interested in politics, keeps track of the Paris
Conference, knows about the politicians in all the countries, and in
short knows a good deal more about world politics than most boys of his
age; also he is a good classical Chinese scholar. The Chinese don't seem
to worry at all about the boy's becoming the center of intrigue and
plots, but I imagine they sort of keep him in reserve with the idea that
unless the people want monarchy back he never can do anything, while if
they do let him back it will be the will of heaven.
I am afraid I haven't sufficiently impressed it upon you that this is
the rainy season. It was impressed upon us yesterday afternoon, when the
side street upon which we live was a flowing river a foot and a half
dee
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