her
appreciation of the fact that Mrs. Conger was anxious to show the
Empress Dowager the honour due to her position.

"It was in her private audiences that this great woman's tact,
womanliness, fascination and charm as a hostess appeared. Taking her
guest by the hand, she would ask in the most solicitous way whether we
were not tired with our journey to the palace; she would deplore the
heat in summer or the cold in winter; she would express her anxiety
lest the refreshments might not have been to our taste; she would tell
us in the sincerest accents that it was a propitious fate that had made
our paths meet; and she would charm each of her guests, even though
they had been formerly prejudiced against her, with little separate
attentions, which exhibited her complete power as a hostess.

"When opportunity offered, she was always anxious to learn of foreign
ways and institutions. On one occasion while in the theatre, she called
me to her side, and, giving me a chair, inquired at length into the
system of female education in America.

"'I have heard,' she said, 'that in your honourable country all the
girls are taught to read.'

"'Quite so, Your Majesty.'

"'And are they taught the same branches of study as the boys?'

"'In the public schools they are.'

"'I wish very much that the girls in China might also be taught, but
the people have great difficulty in educating their boys.'

"I then explained in a few words our public-school system, to which she
replied:

"'The taxes in China are so heavy at present that it would be
impossible to add another expense such as this would be.'

"It was not long thereafter, however, before an edict was issued
commending female education, and at the present time hundreds of girls'
schools have been established by private persons both in Peking and
throughout the empire.

"On another occasion, while the ladies were having refreshments, the
Empress Dowager requested me to come to her private apartments, and
while we two were alone together, with only a eunuch standing by
fanning with a large peacock-feather fan, she asked me to tell her
about the church. It was apparent from the beginning of her
conversation that she made no distinction between Roman Catholics and
Protestants, calling them all the Chiao. I explained to her that the
object of the church was the intellectual, moral, and spiritual
development of the people, making them both better sons and better
subjects.