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He believed in doing things, and, as we shall see later, he
wanted to do them as rapidly as they could be done. He therefore
ordered that a telegraph outfit be secured for him, which he
"played with" as he had done with his most ingenious toys, and
the telegraph was soon established for court use throughout the
empire.
One day a number of officials came to us at the Peking University
and in the course of a conversation they said:
"The Emperor has heard that the foreigners have invented a talk
box. Is that true?"
"Quite true," we replied, "and as we have one in the physical
laboratory of the college we will let you see it."
We had one of the old Edison phonographs which worked with a
pedal, and looked very much like a sewing-machine, and we took
them to the laboratory, allowed one of them to talk into it, and
then set the machine to repeating what had been told it. The
officials were delighted and it was not long until they again
appeared and insisted on buying it as a present for the Emperor,
for in this way better than any other they might hope to obtain
official recognition and position.
The Emperor then heard that the foreigners had invented a
"fire-wheel cart," but whether he had ever been informed that
they had built a small railroad at Wu-Sung near Shanghai, and
that the Chinese had bought it, and then torn it up and thrown it
into the river we cannot say. There are many things the officials
and people do which never reach the imperial ears
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