The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1858-02-23
HOW THE CHINESE WOMEN MAKE
THEIR FEET SMALL.

exhibiting their pedal cxtrcmitles TO sea
captains and other curious Europeans. at
dollar hcad but as so superficial an ex
animation of the national peculiarly did not
satisfy me. had recourse to some of my
good friends among the missionaries. By
their aid obtained that some poor Chi
nese women should bring me a complete
gamut of little girls from the missionary
schools. Many of these female children
probably owed their lives to the persuasion
(aided by opportune donations of rice) of
my missionary friend and his lady, but
their influence had been powerless TO pre-
vent the torture of their feet. On the ap-
pointed day they were all seated in a row
in my friends library, and their feet, which
I suspect had undergone a preparatory
washing, were unbound by their mammas.
The first was a child two years old
Her penance had just commenced. When
the bandage of blue cotton was taken off |
found that the great toe had been left un-
touched, but the other four had been
forced down under the ball of the foot, and
closely bound in that position. The child,
therefore, walked upon the knuckle joints
of her four toes. The toes were red and
inhamcd, and the Egature caused evident
pain. In the next three children (all ages
advancing at small intervals) the prepara
ton was only to the same extent; it was
continued to the four toes; gradually, how
ever, these four toes, ceding to the contin-
ual pressure, lost their artculations and
their identity as limbs. and became
amalgamated with the sole of the foot
In the eldest of the four the redness and
inflammation had entirely disappeared, the
foot was cool and painless, and appeared
as though the four toes had been cut off by
a knife. The foot was now somewhat the
shape of a trowel.
In the fifth girl | saw the commencement
of the second operation-a torture under
which sickly children frequently die. The
sole of the foot now curved into the
shape of bow; the great toe and the
heel being brought together as..near as
possible. Take jujube and double it till
two points of the lozengo nearly meet, and
you will see what | mean. This is done
very gradually. The bandage is never
slackened-month by month it is drawn
tighter-the foot infames and swells, but
the tender mamma perseveres-as the
bones and tendons accommodate themselv-
es to the position constrained by the band
age, so it is drawn tighter. At last the ball
of the natural foot fits into the hollow of
the sole, the root of the great toe is brought
into contact with the heel. The foot is a
shapeless lump. The instep is where the
ankle was, and all that is left to go into
the slipper and to tread the ground is the
ball of the great toe and heel. This is the
small foot of the Chinese woman-a bit of
ccatrice left after a huge cut, running up
between them. Two of the girls were yet
suffering great pain, and their feet were hot
and infamed, but in the oldest the opera
ton was complete. She had attained to
the position. Of small footed woman, and
her feet were quite cool. had no corns, and
were not tender to the touch.
One of the mammas, Influenced, per-
haps, by little lberality in the article of
rice money, intrusted me with a Chinese
mystere de toilette. Sometimes, it seems,
when a woman is expected to have to do
hard work, her toe and heel are not drawn
so tightly together as to produce the true
''small foot" To disguise this imperfec-
ton on her marriage day she has recourse
to art. A piece of cork, shaped like an in
verted sugarloaf, is strapped on to her
foot, and the small part goes into her slip
per and passes for her foot.
1t is recommended that all poisons
employed or sold by druggists be strongly
colored with carboazotic acid, one grain Of
which * sufficient tO mart distinct ynlIOy