pupils, to dine with them and tell them more about the Gospel.
The pastor hesitated to accept the invitation, but as it was

repeated day after day, he finally accompanied the
horticulturist.

When offered wine at dinner the pastor refused it, at which the
eunuch remarked: "Oh, yes, I have heard that you Christians do

not drink wine," and like a polite host, the wine was put aside
and none was drunk at the dinner. During the afternoon they took

their guests to visit some of the imperial buildings, advanced
the sum of three hundred dollars to the horticulturist to enlarge

his plant, and gave various presents to the pastor.
It must not be inferred from this that the Emperor was becoming a

Christian. Very far from it, though the interest he took in the
Christian doctrine set the people to studying about it, not only

in Peking but throughout many of the provinces, as was indicated
at the time by the number of Christian books sold. As early as

1891 he issued a strong edict ordering the protection of the
missionaries in which he made the following statement: "The

religions of the West have for their object the inculcation of
virtue, and, though our people become converted, they continue to

be Chinese subjects. There is no reason why there should not be
harmony between the people and the adherents of foreign

religions." The Chinese reported that he sometimes examined the
eunuchs, lining them up in classes and catechising them from the

books read.
One day three of the eunuchs called on me with this same

horticulturist, for the purpose no doubt of seeing a foreigner,
and to get a glimpse of the home in which he lived. One of them

was younger than the other two and above the average intelligence
of his class. A few days later the horticulturist told me a story

which illustrates a phase of the Emperor's character which we
have already hinted at--his impulsive nature and ungovernable

temper. He had ordered a number of the eunuchs to appear before
him, all of whom except this young man were unable to come,

because engaged in other duties. When the eunuch got down on his
hands and knees to kotow or knock his head to His Majesty, the

latter kicked him in the mouth, cutting his lip and otherwise
injuring him, and my informant added:

"What kind of a man is that to govern a country, a man who
punishes those who obey his orders?" Indeed there was a good deal

of feeling among the Chinese at that time that the Empress
Dowager ought to punish the Emperor as a good mother does a bad

child, though in the light of all the other things he did, he was
to be pitied more than blamed for a disposition thus inherited

and developed.
It was about this time he began the study of English. He ordered

that two teachers be appointed, and contrary to all former
customs he allowed them to sit rather than kneel while they

taught him. At the time they were selected I was exchanging
lessons in English for Chinese with the grandson of one of these

teachers, and learned a good deal about the progress the young
man was making. He was in such a hurry to begin that he could not

wait to send to England or America for books, and so the
officials visited the various schools and missions in search of

proper primers for a beginner. When they visited us we made a
thorough search and finally Dr. Marcus L. Taft discovered an

attractively illustrated primer which he had taken to China with
him for his little daughter Frances, and this was sent to Kuang

Hsu.
One day a eunuch called on me saying that the Emperor had learned

that the various institutions of learning, educational
associations, tract and other societies had published a number of

books in Chinese which they had translated from the European
languages. I was at that time the custodian of two or three of

these societies and had a great variety of Chinese books in my
possession. I therefore sent him copies of our astronomy,

geology, zoology, physiology and various other scientific books
which I was at that time teaching in the university.

The next day he called again, accompanied by a coolie who brought
me a present of a ham cooked at the imperial kitchen, together

with boxes of fruit and cakes, which, not being a man of large
appetite, I thanked him for, tipped the coolie, and after he had

gone, turned them over to our servants, who assured me that
imperial meat was very palatable. Day after day for six weeks

this eunuch visited me, and would never leave until I had found
some new book for His Majesty. They might be literary, scientific

or religious works, and he made no distinction between the books
of any sect or society, institution or body, but with an equal

zeal he sought them all. I was sometimes reduced to a sheet
tract, and finally I was forced to take my wife's Chinese medical

books out of her private library and send them in to the Emperor.
I learned that other eunuchs were visiting other persons in

charge of other books, and that at this time Kuang Hsu bought
every book that had been translated from any European language

and published in the Chinese.
One day the eunuch saw my wife's bicyclestanding on the veranda

and said:
"What kind of a cart is that?"

"That is a self-moving cart," I answered.
"How do you ride it?" he inquired.

I took the bicycle off the veranda, rode about the court a time
or two, while he gazed at me with open mouth, and when I stopped

he ejaculated:
"That's queer; why doesn't it fall down?"

"When a thing's moving," I answered, "it can't fall down," which
might apply to other things than bicycles.

The next day when he called he said:
"The Emperor would like that bicycle," and my wife allowed him to

take it in to Kuang Hsu, and it was not long thereafter until it
was reported that the Emperor had been trying to ride the

bicycle, that his queue had become entangled in the rear wheel,
and that he had had a not very royal tumble, and had given it

up,--as many another one has done.
IX

Kuang Hsu--As Emperor and Reformer
In 1891 the present Emperor Kuang Hsu issued a very strong edict

commanding good treatment of the missionaries. He therein made
the following statement: "The religions of the West have for

their object the inculcation of virtue, and, though our people
become converted, they continue to be Chinese subjects. There is

no reason why there should not be harmony between the people and
the adherents of foreign religions."

--Hon. Charles Denby in "China and Her People."
IX

KUANG HSU--AS EMPEROR AND REFORMER
AS a man, there are few characters in Chinese history that are

more interesting than Kuang Hsu. He had all the caprices of
genius with their correspondingweakness and strength. He could

wield a pen with the vigour of a Caesar, threaten his greatest
viceroys, dismiss his leading conservative officials, introduce

the most sweeping and far-reachingreforms that have ever been
thought of by the Chinese people, and then run from a woman as

though the very devil was after him.
He has been variously rated as a genius, an imbecile and a fool.

Let us grant that he was not brilliant. Let us rate him as an
imbecile, and then let us try to account for his having brought

into the palace every ingenious toy and every wonderful and
useful invention and discovery of the past twenty or thirty years

with the exception of the X-rays and liquid air. Let us try to
explain why it was that an imbecile would purchase every book

that had been printed in the Chinese language, concerning foreign