were killed before his eyes, his home torn to
the ground, he had never been without the city's walls. He said, just
like a child, "Why should I go? My wife, my sons, my home, my all,
were within the walls; why go outside?"

[Illustration: Mylady17.]

Each hour brings us fresh rumours of the actions of the rebels, Poor
Liang Tai-tai was here and in the sorest trouble. Her husband and her
brother were officers in the army of Yuan, and when in Ranking were
shot along with twenty of their brother officers, because they would
not join the Southern forces. To add to China's trouble, the Southern
pirates are attacking boats; and I am glad to say, although it sounds
most cruel, that the government is taking measures both quick and
just. Ten men were captured and were being brought by an English
ship to Canton, and when in neutral waters it is said a Chinese
gunboat steamed alongside with an order for the prisoners. As they
stepped upon the Chinese boat, each man was shot. The English
were most horrified, and have spoken loudly in all the papers of the
acts of barbarism; but they do not understand our people. They must
be frightened; especially at a time like this, when men are watching
for the chance to take advantage of their country's turmoil.

These pirates of Canton have always been a menace. Each village in
that country must be forever on the defensive, for no man is safe who
has an ounce of gold. When father was the prefect of Canton, I
remember seeing a band of pirates brought into the Yamen, a ring of
iron around the collarbone, from which a chain led to the prisoner on
either side. It was brutal, but it allowed no chance of escape for these
men, dead to all humanity, and desperate, knowing there awaited
them long days of prison, and in the end they knew not what.

In those days imprisonment was the greatest of all evils; it was not
made a place of comfort. For forty-eight long hours, the man within
the clutches of the law went hungry; then, if no relative or friend came
forth to feed him, he was allowed one bowl of rice and water for each
day. A prison then meant ruin to a man with money, because the
keepers of the outer gate, the keepers of the inner gate, the guardian
of the prison doors, the runners in the corridor, the jailer at the cell,
each had a hand that ached for silver. A bowl of rice bought at the
tea-shop for ten cash, by the time the waiting hungry man received it,
cost many silver dollars. Yet a pris