wager, who,
since the death of the Emperor, had resided in the Forbidden City and
spent their time in doing needlework, etc., for Her Majesty. When I got
to know them I found that they were highly educated, one of them, Yu
Fai, being exceptionally clever. She could write poetry and play many
musical instruments, and was considered to be the best educated lady
in the Empire of China. Her knowledge of western countries and their
customs surprised me very much; she seemed to know a little bit of
everything. I asked how it was that I had never seen them before, and
was informed that they never visited Her Majesty unless commanded by
her to do so, but that when Her Majesty stayed in the Forbidden City,
of course they had to call and pay their respects each day. One day I
received an invitation to visit them in their Palace. This was separated
from all the other buildings in the city. It was rather a small
building, and very simply furnished, with just a few eunuchs and servant
girls to wait upon them. They said they preferred this simple life,
as they never received any visitors and had nobody to please but
themselves. Yu Fai's room was literally packed with literature of all
descriptions. She showed me several poems which she had written, but
they were of a melancholy character, plainly showing the trend of her
thoughts. She was in favor of establishing schools for the education
of young girls, as only very few could even read or write their own
language, and she suggested that I should speak to Her Majesty about it
at the first opportunity. In spite of her desire to see western reforms
introduced into China, however, she was not in favor of employing
missionary teachers, as these people always taught their religion at
the expense of other subjects, which she feared would set the Chinese
against the movement.

Toward the end of the eleventh moon Her Majesty granted an audience to
the Viceroy of Chihli, Yuan Shih Kai, and as this particular day was
a holiday and Miss Carl was absent, I was able to attend. Her Majesty
asked him for his opinion of the trouble between Russia and Japan.
He said that although these two countries might make war against each
other, China would not be implicated in any way, but that after the war
was over, there was sure to be trouble over Manchuria. Her Majesty said
she was quite aware of that, as they were fighting on Chinese territory,
and that the best thing for China to do would be to keep abso