o occasions
when they did so, always dining separately at other times. Her Majesty
sent two of her Court ladies to wait upon the Empress, I myself being
one of them. I was very pleased, as I wanted to see for myself how they
conducted themselves when together. I went into the Young Empress' room
and informed her that Her Majesty had ordered us to wait upon them, to
which she simply answered: "Very well." So we went to the dining room
and set the table, placing the chairs into position. The meal was much
different from what I expected. Instead of being stiff and serious
like Her Majesty when dining they were quite free and easy, and we were
allowed to join in the conversation and partake of some of the food and
wine. A very pretty ceremony was gone through at the commencement of the
meal. The Emperor and Young Empress seated themselves, and the Secondary
wife filled their cups with wine and presented it to them in turn as a
sign of respect, the Emperor first. When the meal was over we returned
to Her Majesty's apartment and told her that everything had passed off
nicely. We knew very well that we had been sent simply to act as spies,
but we had nothing interesting to tell Her Majesty. She asked if the
Emperor had been very serious and we answered "Yes."

The New Year celebrations terminated with the Festival of Lanterns on
the fifteenth day of the first moon. These lanterns were of different
shapes, representing animals, flowers, fruits, etc., etc. They were made
of white gauze, painted in different colors. One lantern representing
a dragon about fifteen feet long was fastened to ten poles, and ten
eunuchs were required to hold it in position. In front of this dragon
a eunuch was holding a lantern representing a large pearl, which the
dragon was supposed to devour. This ceremony was gone through to the
accompaniment of music.

After the lanterns came a firework display. These fireworks represented
different scenes in the history of China, grape vines, wisteria
blossoms, and many other flowers. It was a very imposing sight. Portable
wooden houses had been placed near the fireworks from which Her Majesty
and the rest of the Court could see them without being out in the cold
air. This display lasted for several hours without a stop, and thousands
of firecrackers were set off during the time. Her Majesty seemed to
enjoy the noise very much. Altogether it was a good finish to the
celebrations and we all enjoyed it very much.