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. Conger was anxious to show the Empress Dowager the
honour due to her position.
"It was in her private audiences that this great woman's tact,
womanliness, fascination and charm as a hostess appeared. Taking
her guest by the hand, she would ask in the most solicitous way
whether we were not tired with our journey to the palace; she
would deplore the heat in summer or the cold in winter; she would
express her anxiety lest the refreshments might not have been to
our taste; she would tell us in the sincerest accents that it was
a propitious fate that had made our paths meet; and she would
charm each of her guests, even though they had been formerly
prejudiced against her, with little separate attentions, which
exhibited her complete power as a hostess.
"When opportunity offered, she was always anxious to learn of
foreign ways and institutions. On one occasion while in the
theatre, she called me to her side, and, giving me a chair,
inquired at length into the system of female education in
America.
" 'I have heard,' she said, 'that in your honourable country all
the girls are taught to read.'
" 'Quite so, Your Majesty.'
" 'And are they taught the same branches of study as the boys?'
" 'In the public schools they are.'
" 'I wish very much that the girls in China might also be taught,
but the people have great difficulty in educating their boys.'
"I then explained in a few words our public-school system, to
which she replied:
" 'The taxes in China are so heavy at present that it would be
impossible to add another expense such as this would be
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