been the duty of the groom to run
forward and throw his weight on the shafts to lessen the jolts;
therefore he is the real, the important driver. In front of the
blue-linen hood hangs a curtain, and the two side windows are also
carefully curtained, with screens which permit the occupant to see
out but not to be seen from without. Thus do high-class mandarins
protect themselves, save themselves from having to descend whenever
they meet a mandarin of equal or higher rank and prostrate themselves
in the dust before him. Also, the longer the axle, the further it
projects beyond the hub of the wheel, the higher the rank of the
owner; it denotes his right to occupy the road. The rims of the
wheels are spiked: big nails project all round, indicating the
mandarin's right to tear up the road. It's all splendid and barbaric;
no mawkish sentiment about it.

So we entered the department store through rows and rows, very neat and
orderly, of upturned carts and antiquated coupes, and mules and horses
and a courtyard full of liveried servants. Inside, it still looked
barbaric, with its magnificent display of rich silks and furs. Great
skins of tiger, panther, leopard, wildcat, sable, were hanging in
profusion on all sides, interspersed with costly embroideries, wonderful
brocades, and all the magnificence and color of the gorgeous East. It
was the idea of Kwong, our pet rickshaw-boy, to bring us here and we
soon found that foreigners were not expected and not wanted. No one of
the suave shop attendants could speak English, nor did they make the
slightest attempt to wait on us. We wandered round, rather desolate,
followed by looks of curiosity and disdain on the part of the clerks,
and the wholly undisguised amusement and contempt of the high-class
Chinese and Manchu women, who, with their liveried servants, were making
the rounds of the various floors. In the store it was noisy and
cheerful, the atmosphere cold and close except in the neighborhood of a
few big red-hot stoves, which gave forth a local heat. Chinese women,
not high-class, attired in satin trousers, sat about at small tables
drinking tea and smoking cigarettes, tea and cigarettes being furnished
free at innumerable little tables on every floor. As we passed, they
giggled and nudged one another. Can't you imagine a Chinese lady in
satin trousers passing through a great American department store and
being remarked upon? To them we were equally queer, and they made no
att