The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-07-22
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SMdLL-FOOTED LADIES.
We extract the following from the letter of the London
Times correspondent at Shanghai:

We extract the following from the letter of the London
Times correspondent at Shanghai
A fisherman and his wife push their way by. The
lady, who is not in her premiere jeuesc has large
raj feet and having tucked up her rowscrs displays
pair of calves which Irish porter might envy. Taking
advantage OF their wake sty totters upon her small
deer's feet extraordinary Chnawoman of the urban
population. She has calves whatever The muscles
Of her legs destroyed by the operation that produced
that beautiful foot and from the knee downwards her
leg is but skin and bone Do you ask how this strange
deformity is produced Stand back of the crowd inside
the entrance to Mr.. Ieards compound and will tell
you There small footed ladies at Hong Kong who
gain very fair livelihood by exhibiting their pedal cx
tremites to captains and other curious Europeans
at a dollar head but superficial an exam
nation Of this national popularity did not satisfy
me- had recourse to some of my good friends
among the missionaries by their aid obtained that
poor Chinese woman should bring complete gamut
of little girls from the missionary schools Many of these
female children probably owed their lives to the persua
sion adcd by oPportunc donations of rce) of my mis-
sonary friend and his lady, but their influence had been
powcrcss prevent the torture of their feet On the
appointed day they all seated in my friends
library, and their feet which suspect had undergone
preparatory washing, were unbound by their manlmas
The first was child of 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 ,n
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 knucklo joints of
her four toes. The toes were red and nilaned, and
dcn a Of ages advancing at small intervas) the prepa
ration only to the extent; it confined to
the four toes gradually however, these four toes ccing
to the continual PRESSURE lost their articulation and idcn
tity as limbs, and became amngamatcd with the sole
of the foot In the eldest of tho four the cdness and
the inflammation had entirely disappeared the foot
cool and painless and appeared though the four toes
had been cut Off with knife. Tho foot was
what in the shape Of the trowc In the fifth girl
the commencement of the second operations torture
under which sickIy children frequently die. Tho sole Of
the foot curved into the shape Of a bow the
great toe and the heel being brought together as near
as possible. Take juiubc and double it till two
points Of the lozcngc nearly meet, an you will sec
what mean This is done very gradually. The band
age is never slackcned month by month II IL drawn
tghtcr-thc foot inhames and swcls but the tender
mamma persevcrcs the bone and tendon accommo-
date themselves TO the position constrained by the hand
age tits drawn tighter At last the ball Of the natural
foot fits into the hollow Of the Sole the root Of the great
is brought into contact with the heel The foot is
shapclcss lump The instcp Is where the ankle was and
all that is left to go into slipper and to tread the ground
is the ball of the great toe and the heel This IL the
small foot Of the Chinese bit Of toe and bit
OF heel, with mark, like ccatrcc left after huge
cut running up between them. Two Of the girls
yet suffering gpat pain and their feet hot and in
She had attained TO tho position Of smaIliootcd wo
man, and her feet quite cool, had corns and
were not tender to the touch One Of the manmas i'm
tucnccd perhaps by little liberaity in the article of
rice money, intruscd with Chinese ,nisse de- toilette
Sometimes, II seems when woman Is expected 10 have
to do hard work her too and heel arc not drawn 10
tightly together as 10 produce the true small foot To
dsgse this impcrfcon upon her marriage day she has
recourse 10 nrt piece Of cork, shaped like invcr
ed sugarloaf is strapped 10 her foot and the small
part goes into her slipper and passes for her foot Thus
are we poor men deceived