During the war with Japan many stories reached Shanghai of the sufferings of the Chinese in Manchuria from the absence of any medical or surgical aid. With a view of alleviating in some way these sufferings, the Viceroy Wang of Chihli appointed Dr. Kin Ta-ting, a returned American student, to form a military hospital and ambulance corps for the army operating in the field near Newchwang. In the course of his duties Dr. Kin came to Shanghai but in the meanwhile, through the exertions of Mrs. N. P. Andersen, a Chinese Red Cross Society had been formed with this lady as Vice-President, the late Mr. von Haas, Austro-Hungarian Consul-General, President, and Laleaca, Secretary, of the Society. It was then arranged to send to Dr. Kin's hospital which was to be located in North Kinchou, all the medicines, lint, ete., bought by the Society through the subscriptions collected, which eventually aggregated something like Tls. 3,000. The high mandarins at Tientsin and the Viceroy Liu K'un-yi, at the time Generalissimo of the Imperial armies within and without the Great Wall, appeared to be duly grateful for the exertions of Mrs. Andersen and her assistants, and the two Viceroys Liu and Wang reported the matter to the Throne, asking for some suitable recognition of the work of the chief officers of the Chinese Red Cross Society of Shanghai.
The result was that His Majesty Kuang Hsii granted two autograph tablets, one to the late Mr. von Haas and the other to Mrs. Andersen, As an instance of the value of time to the average mandarin, the tablet granted to Mr. von Haas arrived in Shanghai in the latter part of 1895, while Mrs. Andersen received hers only a month ago, that is to say, two years after the matter had been reported to the Throne and about twelve months after the handing over of the first tablet to Mr. von Haas. The tablet granted Mrs. Andersen is sn_elaborately carved affair of some six feet in length, and fwwo and a quarter feet wide, with the Grecian pattern running round its sides. The tablet is painted yellow while the engraved characters cut from the Emperor's autograph sentence are raised letters, as is the case with the others. Of course the Emperor's characters, four' in number, occupy the place of honour in the centre of cxeraved the xed seal of the Viceroy Wang the Tablet. On the right-hand side is of Chili, and in the middle, at the top of the Emperor's autograph, are cut two Imperial dragons in thick gilt, enclosing two Characters in red signifying Presented by the Emperor." We give below a translation of the tablet in question which appears to be a more elaborate one than that presented to the late Mr. von Haas, and deservedly so, for Mrs, Andersen was the life and soul of the Society, and without her energetic and untiring example the results sree Chinese Red Gross. Society would have been poor indeed.
"In accordance with the recommendatory memorial of Wang Wen-shao, Viceroy' of Chihli, Imperial High Commissioner of the Peiyang administration and ex officio President of the Board of War, praying that a fitting Imperial recognition be made of the philanthropy of Mrs. Andersen, We fre hereby pleased to graciously grant her the following title, written by Our own effect that she is Always cheerful in performing deeds of philanthropy and ever anxious in dispensibg charity."
"To the foreign lady, Mrs. N, P. Andersen, wife of Captain Andersen, IM. Customs Service."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.