i6s



CHAPTER IX

AFTER THE SIEGE OF PEKING

The siege of Peking, which will go down in history
/ as being one of the most remarkable experiences
of the century, had been raised. Once more the
Occidental had met the Oriental in a face-to-face
death struggle, and by means of intrepid resource-
fulness, supreme courage, confronting deadly
dangers, and the superintending providence of
Almighty God had been victorious.
y It was the dawning of the twentieth century
victorious against the Middle Ages, a glorious
future vanquishing an inert and lifeless past. It
was the seed of a new China and hope for the Far
East. For sixty-five days great billows of fire had
raged, while shot and shell poured in. It has been
a fight for life and all life holds dear. Falling
into the hands of the Boxers, no terms could be
expected, but the terrible slaughter of Tai-yuan-Fu
would have been repeated. The siege, coming as it
did in the summer, proved disastrous ; most small
children had been starved. There were eighteen
sheep available at the beginning of the siege, but
they, were reserved for the wounded ; little milk or
sugar, but quantities of horse flesh and musty rice.
Many people starved rather than eat it.
i66



After the Siege of Peking

We enter. The people are too excited for words.
