t dealing out "appetizers," and this was an
American joke. The perpetrator of this joke was a minor official in the
State Department, yet the entire party apparently considered it a good
joke. Fortunately, I could disguise my real feeling, and I merely relate
the incident to give you an idea of the sense of the proprieties as
entertained by certain Americans. All that winter the story of the
American minister to Zanzibar was told at my expense without doubt.

Having been "fortified," and some of the men took two or three
"cocktails" before they became "tuned up," we went down to the
drawing-room, where I paid my respects to the host and hostess, who
stood at the end of a beautiful room. As I approached the lady greeted
me with a charming smile, extending her gloved hand almost on a direct
line with her face, grasping it firmly, not shaking it, saying, "Very
kind of you, ----. Delighted, I am sure. General"--turning to her
husband--"you know the ----, of course," and the general shook my hand
as he would a pump-handle, and whispered, "Our minister to Zanzibar
treated you all right, eh?" and with a wink indescribable, closing the
right eye for a second, passed me on. The story had got down-stairs
before me. Americans of the official class have, as a rule, an absolute
lack of _savoir faire_ and social refinement; lack them so utterly as to
become comical.

I now joined other groups of officers and officials, there being about
thirty guests, half of whom were ladies. The latter were all in what is
termed full dress. Why "full" I do not know. Here you see one of the
most extraordinary features of American life--the dress of women. The
Americans make claim to being among the most modest, the most religious,
the most proper people in the world, yet the appearance of the ladies
at many public functions is beyond belief. All the women in this house
were beautiful and covered with jewels. They wore gowns in the French
court fashion, with trains a yard or two in length, but the upper part
cut so low that a large portion of the neck and shoulders was exposed. I
was embarrassed beyond expression; such an exhibition in China could
only be made by a certain class. These matrons were of the highest
respectability. This remarkable custom of a strange people, who deluge
China with missionaries from every sect under the sun and at home commit
the grossest solecisms, is universal, and not thought of as improper.
There was not much opportu