relation with the powers of Europe, and which have been reported
by such writers as Holcomb, Beresford, Gorst Colquhoun and others
in trying to account for the feelings the Chinese have towards
us, all of which was embodied in the years of training of our
little concubine.

It should be remembered that many concubines are selected whom
the Emperor never takes the trouble to see. After being taken in,
their temper and disposition are carefully noted, their
faithfulness in the duties assigned them, their diligence in the
performance of their tasks, their kindness to their inferiors,
their treatment of their equals, and their politeness and
obedience to their superiors, and upon all these things, with
many others, as we shall see, their promotion will finally
depend.

When Miss Chao entered the palace, like most girls of her class
or station in life, she was uneducated. She may have studied the
small "Classic for Girls" in which she learned:

"You should rise from bed as early in the morning as the sun,
Nor retire at evening's closing till your work is wholly done."

Or, further, she may have been told,

When the wheel of life's at fifteen,
Or when twenty years have passed,
As a girl with home and kindred these will surely be your last;
While expert in all employments that compose a woman's life,
You should study as a daughter all the duties of a wife."