rded him such protection as this transference
of insult from his own person to the learning he represented. No man
present was prepared to strike a blow at the embodiment of the Divine
Right of Scholarship.

He lived to return to Hwochow, where he faced death a second time and
was dragged through the streets by an angry populace, but finally
escaped and with his wives reached a place of safety.

FOOTNOTE:

[9] The polite term for the wife of an official.

THE REVOLUTION OF 1911

"For an event to be great, two things must be
united--the lofty sentiment of those who
accomplish it, and the lofty sentiment of those
who witness it. No event is great in itself, even
though it be the disappearance of whole
constellations, the destruction of several
nations, the establishment of vast empires, or the
prosecution of wars at the cost of enormous
forces: over things of this sort the breath of
history blows as if they were flocks of wool. . . .
Hence the anxiety which every one must feel who,
observing the approach of an event, wonders
whether those about to witness it will be worthy
of it."--F. NIETZSCHE.

CHAPTER XIX

THE REVOLUTION OF 1911

AND HOW WE WERE AFFECTED BY IT

THE revolution of 1911 burst on us like a bolt from the blue. One day we
were mildly interested at the signs of trouble in far-removed provinces,
and the next, the thing was in our very midst. The first intimation of
local disturbance met me in the shape of a contingent of men, parents of
some of my scholars, who were introduced to my presence with the
startling information that they had come to fetch away their daughters,
not daring to leave them in a marked place such as the girls' school
would inevitably be, and afraid to delay, lest roads should become so
dangerous that their removal would be impossible. I had no option but to
agree, and at earliest dawn the next day a few carts and a string of
donkeys conveyed them from a side door as quietly and unobtrusively as
possible.

Two days later the news of a massacre of the Manchu population of
Taiyueanfu reached us; and in accordance with the request of the parents,
we hastily scattered all the remaining pupils whose homes were nearer at
hand, and the whole city yielded itself to a condition of panic when
every wild report was spread and believe