employ of our government, but his salary of
one hundred dollars a month was paid from my husband's private means.
His services were invaluable and when we first began housekeeping he
secured our domestic staff for us. The butler was Ning Ping, a
Christianized Chinese, who took entire charge of the
establishment--going to market, regulating the servants and even handing
them their wages. For his services he received four dollars a month.

I found this mode of life ideally pleasant and easy until I heard an
uproar one day in the servants' quarters in which my two nurses seemed
to be involved. I was entirely ignorant as to the cause of the commotion
and for some time held my peace, as one of the first lessons I learned
in China was not to probe too deeply into domestic affairs, since one
derived but little satisfaction from the attempt. As the confusion
continued, however, I summoned Ling Kein in order to ascertain the cause
of it. It seems that Ning Ping had paid the women their wages in Mexican
dollars which were not of the proper weight. There prevailed a crafty
method of clipping or punching the coins, and this dishonest Chinaman
had taken advantage of those whom he thought to be simply
unsophisticated women. The trouble was finally quelled by an agreement
that in future I should personally pay the nurses their wages. I gave
each of these women four dollars a month for their services. Our cook,
Ting Ting, who was a chef, and the four coolies, who were the chair
bearers, were also paid four dollars a month each. The gatekeeper, whose
duties were to open and close the front gate and to look after the
chairs of visitors, received a similar sum for his services. I also
employed by the month a native tailor, whose sole requirements for his
work were a chair and a table. He did the entire sewing of the
establishment and charged four dollars a month for his labor. At least
one of my experiences with him failed to confirm the extraordinary
powers of imitation possessed by the Chinese, for upon one occasion when
I trusted him with a handsome garment, with strict injunctions to follow
the model I gave him, he completely ignored my instructions and carried
out his own designs.

Fortunately for us, this retinue of retainers provided its own food and
clothing, and I was in blissful ignorance as to where they stowed
themselves away for the night. A laundryman called once a week for our
clothes and his charges were two dollars a hun