nce. There is not the democracy of other days;
the man from the street, the merchant or the coolie with his burden on
his shoulders, did not follow us into the courtyards to see what was
being done, nor were there crowds of idle men gazing with mild
curiosity at the visitors to their city.

We hear much of the old-time power of the officials; but things are not
nearly so democratic under this new government as in former times,
when, it is true, the governor had power of life and death, but still was
obliged to deal leniently with his people. A little larger demand for
tribute, a case of rank injustice, and he became the object of the
people's wrath and would quite likely see his Yamen in a blaze, or
pay with his life for his greed. The masses held real power within their
hands. If their officials did not deal justly with them, they caused a
riot, and if the frightened official could not still it within a certain time,
he was told that he evidently could not control his people and so was
removed.

My husband inspected the regiments stationed here. I saw them from
a veranda in the Yamen where we women were unseen. Fifteen
thousand men marched past him; and they were a sight for one who
loves his country. They were all young men, no one seeming to be
over twenty-five, and as they marched my heart was filled with pride
and hope in them. I thought, it is of just such men, such sons of
peasants and working people, that Japan made her army that gained
a victory over one of the greatest nations in the Western world. Why
cannot we, with our unlimited numbers, make an army that will cause
our country to be respected and take its place among the powers of
the world? We have the men, myriads and myriads of them; men who
are used to hardship and privation in their daily life, who, on a bowl of
rice, a morsel of dried fish, can fight the whole day through. Our men
are not accustomed to the luxuries of the foreigners, who, even in
times of war, carry great stores of what seems to Eastern nations,
unnecessary baggage. With them their endless string of wagons is
their greatest pitfall, and with us these latter could be reduced to the
smallest count.

Yet we hear on every hand that the courage of the Chinese soldier is
held at low value. But why? When sent unarmed, or with guns for
which there were no bullets, into the Japanese war, against troops
with the latest inventions in weapons to kill, the only thing to be done
was to retreat