Kathleen Gray Nelson

“ News travels very slowly through all the many gates that guard the Emperor from his subjects, and what goes on in the Forbidden City is a secret to the rest of the Empire. But sometimes, even from that jealously watched home of royalty, rumors creep abroad, and are whispered from mouth to mouth, for gossip will not be quiet, even though you cut out its tongue. Someway it became noised abroad after a while that Tuen, the maiden from Lu Chang, was the favorite wife of the Emperor, and second only to the Empress herself. ”

“ In fact he believed it to be the garden spot of the world, and as he had never been anywhere else, we must pardon his vanity. "We are the greatest and wisest nation in the world," he would tell Tuen pompously. "We are the most learned and prosperous of all people, and we have the oldest and the highest civilization. We have borrowed no foreign inventions or arts, we have not asked them to frame the laws to govern us nor to solve our difficulties. All we have ever asked of any of them is—let us alone. We are not like the barbarians—always quarrelling and fighting, and running about the earth. ”

“ Now he smiled, openly, at her evident vexation, but he said, gravely:
"If you are born great, you will be great, no matter if you be man or woman, no matter when you live or where, but the great ones of earth are few and far between. Some who were not born great, have, by hard work and much patience, attained to it. But a woman is usually a stupid thing, and her head is much too light for climbing."
"If she were very wise, could she have power, even in the Forbidden City?" Tuen persisted. ”

“ The day was to have been celebrated throughout the Empire with a lavish magnificence that would render it the greatest event in Chinese history for many centuries, for her loyal subjects had planned to render fitting honor to this remarkable woman. The streets for ten miles were to have been covered with rich carpets and decorated with lamps and pictures, and the rarest wares—porcelains, bronzes, jade, and silver—were to have been arranged along this gorgeous avenue. ”

“ Not only did the Kublai Khan feed his subjects, but he had countless public looms that were running all the time, where garments were woven and given to the poor, so that none could say that they were hungry or cold."
"I would have liked to be alive then," Tuen said, wistfully, and in this they all agreed with her.
"There has never been such another ruler in any land," Szu told her. "The whole world has heard of him, and marvelled at his greatness and his goodness." ”

“ All the morning they squatted forlornly before the temple, hungry and desolate and sorrowful, and when at last Niu Tsang arose, and Tuen knew that the awful [Pg 32] moment when she must leave them forever had come, she felt as if she should surely die. Her mother caressed her, crying in a hopeless, patient way, but she managed to whisper encouragingly:
"After all, you will be better off," and Tuen answered bravely: "All of us will, I hope, be better off, mother. At least we shall not die of hunger." ”

“ At the residence of the Viceroy everything presented a gala appearance. After cleaning and scrubbing in every available place, the house had been purified by prayers and ceremonies and incense, and when New Year's eve came nothing was lacking save the final decorations. Without the populace thronged the streets, and their loud shouts and beating of gongs and drums, and the popping of innumerable fire-crackers made a deafening din. ”

“ Our language is our own, our literature has not sought for themes or inspiration in other climes, our institutions are the outcome of our own wisdom, and our land provides everything that is necessary for her children. We are the one independent nation. Confucius, the wisest of all men, left us our code of morals, and the Son of Heaven rules over us. Our kingdom contains one third of the population of the whole earth, and nearly every one of the inventions that these barbarians think they discovered they find have been in use by us long before they were a nation. ”

“ Gilded and painted fragments of helpless idols strewed the floor, the great stone altar, carved in writhing dragons, had been broken into many pieces, and incense vases of priceless porcelain, candlesticks of richest cloisonné, tables of carved ebony, stands of polished jade, and rosaries torn from the hands of frightened priests, had been ruthlessly destroyed, and now lay in great [Pg 8] heaps of rubbish. The guardians of the temple had fled before the wrath of the rebel reformers, and the dead gods were left alone in their temple. ”

“ Wang cried hotly, and Tuen, her eyes shining like stars, said softly:
"It seems almost too wonderful to be true."
"Stranger things happen than have ever been told," Szu replied. "The affairs of life are past finding out, and who Tên Wang leads must follow, whether he will or not."
"This Woo How was very lucky," Tuen murmured. "She must have been loved by the gods." ”

“ Frightened at his appearance, she arose and stood waiting for him to pass, but he said sadly:
"Your gods, my child, are but wood and stone, and cannot hear your prayers. The one true God lives in Heaven, watching over you, and loving you, and there is no other God but Him." ”

“ Great was the prosperity of the Empire, and rumors of its glories and of its wonders spread to the outer regions, and ambassadors came from Nepaul, Persia, and even from a far-away dominion called Rome, to pay tribute to the Son of Heaven. He had magnificent palaces and stately temples, and he numbered his warriors by thousands. Then, as it has ever been, for we are the one nation favored by the gods, we were civilized and wise, and all other people came to learn of us, even as it is to this very day. ”

“ Tuen followed the attendant, her form shaking with suppressed sobs, and he led the way from the main hall into a second court, larger and more beautiful than the first. A gnarled and twisted evergreen, simulating a canopy, stood in the centre of this court, and underneath its thick branches was a little pool, encircled by moss-covered rocks, and filled with brilliant gold-fish. ”

“ Wo Ting made a sign of assent, and someone else remarked:
"Why not? 'Tis no small honor to be the handmaid of the Son of Heaven, the greatest king upon earth. Find yourself a son, and let the girl go."
"I do not wish to part with her, not just yet," the Viceroy said slowly.
"She will go away sooner or later to the household of her husband," the governor-general told him. "After all it is the same thing, for in either case she is lost to you. It is only a son who is a joy forever."
"True! True!" cried a dozen voices. "What matters a girl?" ”

“ Before one of the tombs, far more pretentious than any of its neighbors, the Viceroy stopped and alighted from his sedan.
His forefather had evidently been some high mandarin, for a stone wall surrounded a large, horse-shoe shaped enclosure, and in this teeming land, where earth was so precious that only a little portion could be allotted to a few of the living, it was a sign of great wealth to have so much space for an ancestor. ”

“ Nowhere can be found so many and such great cities as we have, and not only the land but the waters are covered with our towns. I wish we could shut ourselves off, as once we were, and never see another barbarian. But alas, we cannot, for they cannot get along without us."
Thus Szu, puffed up with pride, instructed Tuen in the facts of Chinese history, and she drank in every word he said eagerly. ”

“ Even on a desert island she would have power over the wild beasts, for knowledge is power the world over. It is because females do not possess it that they are weak and of little repute. When they become wise they will rule the earth, for a man is but clay in the hands of a skilful woman. She pats him into whatever shape she wants him."
"I would like to be wise and great," Tuen said, with a sigh. ”

“ Again there was silence, then at last the Emperor was gathered to his fathers, and Tuen, the little slave girl, during the infancy of her son, became Empress of all China, and ruler over one third of the population of the world. Thus does Fate shift the figures in the game of life. ”

“ She caught her breath quickly, and clung to Wang.
"We shall be killed!" she cried, and Wang was so terror-stricken that she could not answer. The sailors on Tuen's boat uttered loud, warning shouts, and pulled away lustily, and the men on the war-junk, seeing that the barge was directly in their path, rowed valiantly. ”

“ Progress, the daring child of modern times, has not found entrance [Pg 6] there, and the Niu Tsang of to-day, leading his family through the forsaken country, was but a repetition of his long dead forefathers. That was the reason why, even now, as he toiled wearily along, his mind left the scenes of the present, so full of sorrow and suffering, and dwelt in placid contemplation on the events of the past. He was musing on the wisdom of the sages, on the maxims of Confucius, when, chancing to raise his head, he saw in the distance the dim outlines of a building. ”

“ A learned man once advanced the theory that in the olden days the children of Abraham and Keturah, driven forth by unkind kinsmen, wandered on until they reached the flowery Kingdom, and there the family of the old patriarch multiplied as the stars of heaven, as the sand upon the sea-shore, and became a mighty nation. ”

“ As the high magistrate and his attendants wended their way home, Ta-ta who had been quiet for some time, turned to Tuen with a friendly piece of advice.
"You had better put all this nonsense about books, and being learned like a man, out of your little head, else no man will want to marry you, and you must remember that you are getting old enough now to think about having a mother-in-law."
"I don't want one ever," Tuen declared. "I would much rather just belong to the Viceroy always."
"How stupid you are," Ta-ta said impatiently. "Of course you must be sold to someone. ”

“ Niu Tsang said shortly. "All the gods hate the children of men, but because we offer prayers and incense they sometimes listen to us."
Tuen said nothing more, but that night from her bed in the open court she looked up at the silver river [2] winding among the golden stars, and wondered what god it was who lived so far away you could only dimly see his lamps shining through the blue, and she felt she would like to [Pg 19] know if all the gods really hated her, and if so, what she had done to make them angry. ”

“ Wang, her face was now clean, her hair neatly braided, and her old worn-out garments replaced by new ones.
The Viceroy's lady examined her critically, even approvingly, as she said: "I am glad she has such big feet. She can the better work. Only ladies of high rank should bind their feet—it is foolishness in servants."
Tuen looked from her own brown, shapely feet to the clumsy ones of her mistress, and was silent, though it must be confessed she thought the Viceroy's wife had the very loveliest feet she had ever seen. ”

“ Chinese Proverb.
Many conflicting emotions have torn the heart of poor little Tuen since she sat among the fallen idols in the lonely temple, and she has learned that life may be a hateful thing, even to the young. After long weeks of privation and hopelessness, after the bitter disappointment of finding that even in the great city of Lu Chang food and clothing were not for those who could not buy, she realized suddenly with that exaltation of martyrdom that comes to strong women in all climes and in all ages, that she must be the sacrifice offered for the happiness of her dear ones. ”

“ A year had passed since Tuen came to live at the Viceroy's yâmen, and in that time she had grown taller, fairer, and now was budding into womanhood, or at least so it was considered in that land, where girls of twelve years old are thought mature enough to marry. She had become a great favorite with every one in the palace on account of her amiable disposition and kindness to every one, and even the Viceroy's wife had forgotten her former prejudice and took a kindly interest in her. ”

“ They have left us all that is necessary for us to know, and their maxims are the perfect rule of life."
Having delivered himself of this preamble, he continued:
"To-day will I tell you the story of Ta-ke the wife of Chow, in proof that one woman can ruin a nation. It is said that she was beautiful, and certain it is that the Emperor loved her well, but it is, alas! true that her heart was base. He built for her a palace, more beautiful than any ever seen before. It was all of gold and silver and ivory, and the roof was bright as the sun. ”

“ For several days after she had listened to the story of Woo How, Tuen maintained an unwonted gravity, and was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she paid but little attention to anything around her. "The poor child is homesick," Wang muttered, as she watched her, but the girl gave no indication of the cause of her new mood. Perhaps she could not if she had tried. Their progress along the Yang-tse-Kiang was slow, and she had much time for meditation. ”

“ Unknown to herself, she was merging from a dreaming girl to a clear-headed, determined woman, a woman of a strong personality, whose influence would be felt in the world. After all, it is some mere chance that holds a mirror before us and shows us what we are and what we might be, and to Tuen this vision had come before it was too late. ”

“ When the lovely Woo How discovered this truth she became a power in the land—but not until then. As she grew older her beauty decreased, it is true, but her power increased, and on the death of the Emperor it was this same Woo How who set aside his lawful successor and became the Empress and sole ruler of this great country."
"It is but a play you are repeating to me," Tuen cried scornfully. "It was not and could not be."
"Youth does not know all things," the [Pg 151] old story-teller answered in an offended tone. "A few gems of thought, a few pearls of knowledge are reserved for age. ”