The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1857-04-04

have seen corpse under the table Of gamblers often
have trod putrid body AT the threshold Of
In many parts OF China there towers OF brick or
where toothless principally female children are thrown
BY their parents into hole made In the side OF the wall
There various opinions 10 the extent OF nantcide
in China but that il practice in many prov
inces admits of no doubt One OF the most eloquent
Chinese writers against inantcide kwei Chung Flu pro-
esses have been specially inspired by the goa Of er
ture to call upon the Chinese people 70 refrain from the
inhumsu practice and declares that the god had filled
his house with honors and given him literary descendant
the recompense for his erertions Yet bis denuncs
tons scarcely go further than pronounce wicked in
those destroy their female children who have the
Of bringing them up and OF his arguments strange
enough: ITO destroy daughters be says s TO make
upon heavens harmony the equal number Of the
the more daughters you drown the daughters you
will have and il known that the drowning Of
daughters led to the birth Of sons He recommends absn-
doning children to their fate the waysde preferable
drowning them and then says @There instances Of
children exposed having been nnrsed and reared by
tigers "Whsrs should have been" he asks "if our
gandmothers and mothers had been drowned in their in
fancy and he quotes two instances Of the punishment
mothers who had destroyed their infants OF whom had
boodred serpent fastened 10 her thigh the other her
four extrenes turned into cows feet Father Rpa
tons that Of abandoned children the Jesuits baptized in
Pekn alone not less than three thousand yearly have
ponds which the habua receptacle of female ia
fants whose bodies lie floating about their surface II
by unusual to carry persons in state OF
haustion little distance from the Cities TO give them
pot Of rice and leave them to perish Of starvation when
yond any other region seem in state Of perpetual ac-
tiyty.
The habits of the people the traditions the teachings Of
the sage all give wonderful impulse the plocreatiye
affections chdless person 10 deemed unhappy, not
to degraded The Chinese moralists sett down
law that wife give children to her husband shs
concubne through whom his may be preserved and
provision made that when he leaves the world honors will
be done TO his names.
Generally the wife willingly comedies with the husband
in intro hauRe
bnes whom he is able TO maintain since she exerc -
them undoubted authority, aud the child Of n
concubne is bound to pay higher respect to the rsl wits
domestic relations by imagery, and wont to say that
as the husband the and the wife the moon 80 the
concubnes the pane and the stars OF the domestic
armament; and it has been often truly observed that
though the Chinese may be called sensuasts there is
dedication OF the grosse sensuaes such as is found IN
the pantheons aud in many OF the Oriental forms
of faith Tales Of the OF their gods and heroes sell
dom figure in their historical books traditional legends
The dresses and external habits of hs in China
invariably modest and on the whole the social arrange
ments must be considered friendly to augmentation Of
the human The domestic affections strong Pa
rents generally fond and proud of their children and
children obedent to their parents Order indeed the
first Law of Confneiu authority aud submission the apex
and basis of the social pyramid The sentiment OF dshonor
attached to the extinction Of by the want of descend
ants through whom the whole line of Ieverenal sr'ces
(which have called religious worship rendered to
cestors is 10 be perpetual is by confined to tbs
privileged Glasses in China Oae Of our female seryansa
desire That
husband should have another wife in her abseace, and
seemed quite surprised that any should suppose such
arrangement to be in auy respect improper.
The marriage Of children is OF the greatest
Germs OF fames Scarcely Is child born in the higher
ranks of life the question of future pousa becomes
topic of conversation. There 10 large body u pro-
fesonn match makers whose business il s TO put nj
the preliminary arrangements in train to settle questions
OF dowry to accommodate differences, TO report on the
pros and OF suggested allances There being no
hereditary honors in Chnaexcet those which reckon
upward from the Distinguished to ihe father, the
grandfather and the whole line OF ancestry, which "
&c ennobed by the literary martial Renins of de-
scendant-ths distinctions af caste arg unknown aad n
deemed fit match for the opulent aud Distinguish
ed female the community The laws which pro
hit marriages within certain degrees of affinity they do
not however interdiGt it with deceased wifs sisterl
tend to make marriages prolific and TO produce q
healthier Of children So stropg IL tho objection TO
the marriage of blood relations that and o.
the Sing family cannot lawfully wed. Sci
diers and sailors in respect prevented from marry
ing expect there is from the number OF male en,grsn
from the greater loss of by the various accidents OF
life great spsGpa.en between the sexes, tending nau
rally enoug TO the lower appreciation Of woman bu, cor
rect statistics wanting IN ths indeed in every other
part of the field Of inquiry The proportion Of unmarried
to married people is Gas would be dduced from the fore
going obseryations) exceedingly small To promote mar
rages bodys affair Matches aud betrothing:
naturally enough occupy the attention OF the young but
not lass that Of the middle aged aud the old marriage
is the great event 10 the la Ct nan woman aud in
China is associated with OF preliminary negotiations
ceremonals different steps Of the goasions wtsn cor
Fespondepce ysiting protocols and conventions than IL
any other part Of the Herld. ....,.-.