I must go to the women's quarters and stop their chattering. Oh,
Mother mine, why didst thou send to me that priest of thine?
[Illustration: Mylady26.]
Kwei-li.
18
Dear Mother,
I must introduce thee to thy new daughter-in-law. Yes, I can see thee
start. I will tell thee quickly. Thy son hath not taken to himself another
wife, but it is I, Kwei-li, who should be made known to thee anew.
Kwei-li, the wife of the Governor of Kiang-si, who has become so
foreignised that the mother of her husband would never know her. If
things keep on the path they have gone for these last few moons, I
fully expect thou wilt see me with that band of women who are making
such a great outcry for their rights and freedom. I cannot even explain
them to thee, as thou wouldst not understand.
My last adventure in the ways or the modern woman is in relation to
the courtship of my son. Tang-si, my second son, is in love; and I, his
mother, am aiding and abetting him, and allowing him to see his
sweet-heart in the foreign way. I know thou wilt blush when thou
readest this; but I have been in the hands of the Gods and allowed not
to speak of "custom," or propriety, and when I have tried to reason
with my son and talk to him in regard to what is seemly, he laughs at
me and calls me pet names, and rubs my hair the wrong way and
says I am his little mother.
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