AS MINISTER TO GERM ANY -1879 -1881 555 



the evening of her arrival at court the diplomatic corps 

 were assembled, awaiting her appearance. Presently the 

 great doors swung wide, and in came the Chinese minister 

 with his wife: he a stalwart mandarin in the full attire 

 of his rank ; she a gentle creature in an exceedingly pretty 

 Chinese costume, tripping along on her little feet, and 

 behind her a long array of secretaries, interpreters, and 

 the like, many in Chinese attire, but some in European 

 court costume. After all of us had been duly presented 

 to the lady by his Chinese excellency, he brought her 

 secretaries and presented them to his colleagues. Among 

 these young diplomatists was a fine-looking man, evi- 

 dently a European, in a superb court costume frogged 

 and barred with gold lace. As my Chinese colleague in- 

 troduced him to me in German, we continued in that lan- 

 guage, when suddenly this secretary said to me in Eng- 

 lish, "Mr. White, I don't see why we should be talking 

 in German ; I was educated at Rochester University under 

 your friend, President Anderson, and I come from Water- 

 loo in Western New York/' Had he dropped through 

 the ceiling, I could hardly have been more surprised. Nei- 

 ther Waterloo, though a thriving little town upon the New 

 York Central Railroad and not far from the city in which 

 I have myself lived, nor even Rochester with all the added 

 power of its excellent university, seemed adequate to de- 

 velop a being so gorgeous. On questioning him, I found 

 that, having been graduated in America, he had gone to 

 China with certain missionaries, and had then been taken 

 into the Chinese service. It gives me very great pleasure 

 to say that at Berlin, St. Petersburg, and The Hague, 

 where I have often met him since, he has proved to be 

 a thoroughly intelligent and patriotic man. Faithful to 

 China while not unmindful of the interests of the United 

 States, in one matter he rendered a very great service 

 to both countries. 



But a diplomatic representative who has a taste for 

 public affairs makes acquaintances outside the diplomatic 

 corps, and is likely to find his relations with the ministers 



