Page:Leaves from my Chinese Scrapbook - Balfour, 1887.djvu/61

 be vastly entertaining. Her Majesty, who is no longer in the first bloom of youth, has a dignified presence and a set, stern expression of face. Her appearance, at the age of fifty, in short skirts, hitting out at her venerable preceptor, and, we presume, occasionally receiving punishment herself, must, to say the least of it, cause some scandal to the strait-laced Censors who recently remonstrated with her upon the undue smartness of her headdress; for if it be indecorous for a lady, to say nothing of an Empress, to so far forget her age, her widowhood, and her dignity as to wear showy caps, what must they think when they see her actually pummelling and being pummelled? Many widow ladies are not insensible to the consolations of pretty cap-ribbons; but how many indulge in the relaxation of la boxe? We, however, who are only barbarians, can afford to take a more generous view; and it is pleasant, to our mind, to see the Manchu Empress of China credited, even by rumour, with setting so good an example of independence. According to precedent, it would have been more virtuous for Her Majesty, on being left a widow, to have dressed in sackcloth for the rest of her life, used thorns instead of hair-pins, and perhaps even starved herself to death. The Empress Tz'ŭ Hsi has, happily for herself and for China, far more human nature about her; and her name will certainly descend to future generations, in the histories now being compiled, as that of the best Empress that China has ever had, in spite of the archery, the boxing-matches, the smart caps, and the too great economy of skirt.