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. Nevertheless, she would not allow a
subject to presume to suggest to her ways in which she should
interfere in the social customs of the Chinese, as one of her
subjects did. This lady was the wife of a Chinese minister to a
foreign country, and had adopted both for herself and her
daughters the most ultra style of European dress. She one day
said to Her Majesty, 'The bound feet of the Chinese woman make us
the laughing-stock of the world.'
" 'I have heard,' said the Empress Dowager, 'that the foreigners
have a custom which is not above reproach, and now since there
are no outsiders here, I should like to see what the foreign
ladies use in binding their waist.'
"The lady was very stout, and had the appearance of an
hour-glass, and turning to her daughter, a tall and slender
maiden, she said:
" 'Daughter, you show Her Majesty.'
"The young lady demurred until finally the Empress Dowager said:
" 'Do you not realize that a request coming from me is the same
as a command?'
"After having had her curiosity satisfied, she sent for the Grand
Secretary and ordered that proper Manchu outfits be secured for
the lady's daughters, saying:
" 'It is truly pathetic what foreign women have to endure. They
are bound up with steel bars until they can scarcely breathe.
Pitiable! Pitiable!'
"The following day this young lady did not appear at court, and
the Empress Dowager asked her mother the reason of her absence
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