Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1865-03-15
gd1aiI.lg -G'5.mpirt,
The BABY Towers OF Cnina.

Aulhnblolde, 80 common 'ain CHINA, ~ ihul
vividly depicted, in allits horrors, by q receut
traveller. Burying an infant alive is horri
bic thing, yet how common It is among the
Ceestials: H
The Pagodas, so often mentioned in ae
counts of the Chinese Empire, appear to be
more numerous in the mountainous districts
where they add greatly to the picturesque
charm Of the scenery, and are believed TO be
connected with the religious ceremonies Of
the people. In the fat country around Shan
/ ghai they are not TO be met with-at least il
wns not our fortune TO see any during our
brief stay. Theonly structure like tower, il
we except the turrets on the city walls mud
watch towers erected within the past few
years, when the Tae Pings have threatened
the city, is u tall, white monument, rising to
the height Of twenty feet, and without inscrip.
tion or distinguishing mark Of any kind. IL
| looks like fine white tomb, higher aud
more ambitious than usual, and truly il is a
"whited sepulchre"
Baby Tower, it is called by the foreign resi-.
dents, for il is Glled with the bones OF infants
mot such as have died n natural death, as
Bayard Taylor asserts, but which have been
thrust into this horrd mountain of heathen
cruelty when but few hours old Humanity
shudders at tho thought These dazzling
white baby towers with their mockery of pu--
rlty, and openly inviting, AS il Mo,u, die most
nnnnturnl and heartless of murders, are
among the most hideous speGtacles to be met
with in heather land. True, river or
pond will be pointed out to you IN other parts
OF China, or IN India, where babies nro daily
drowned like puppies or kittens, but they do
not affect the mind with such horrors as these
pal pable structures, erected with the best alill
Of their architects for this eNpress purpose
The water closes over the murdered infant,
aud no trace Of the crime remains; but here
is tower--a high tower--wth deep found,
atons filled with tho bones OF murdered babes
that have been accumulating for generations.
No wonder that christian mothers, resident
/ in the east, cannot speak of them or see them
without a shudder, and never willingly pass
them in their drives. Who knows but they
might hear, ifthey approached the tower, the
wall OF some poor infant Just thrown in or
meet its father returning from his cruel Or
randi
| At Shanghai the Baby Tower stands on the
southwest side Of the city, without the walls,
but at Foo Chow, where the crime of infant
eide is still more prevalent, they use no baby
tower, but have provided ponds for this -ex-
press purpose. 1t is the saddest part of this
great national crime of the Chinese that it is
sanctioned by the mandarins, and viewed as
dsagreeable necessity, not as a crime2
D 1t has beenthe fashion Of late years 10 de-
ny the existence Of this abomination--the
douhters, wise in their own concet, insisting
that the crime is too great for human ma.
ture. .il itI'tb tHstH'a
Human nature has unfortunately proved
hsta Nral 10. e Al -. IL.
in all parts of the world, and the facts of Chi
nese infantcides are indisputable, The wit
nesses are too numerous, the crime is too
public, and the evidence is too notorious to
deny its existence. The children DESTROYED
are girls; the most common method Of de-
stroying them are, lst by drowning them in
tub of water; I'd, by throwing them into
some running stream; Sd, by buryng alive
The last named method is adopted under the
hope and with the snperstitious belief that
the next birth will be boy. The excuse is
th at II is too expensive TO educate a girl, but
il some friend will take the child to bring up as
a wife for a little boy; the parents will sell or
give away the infant rather than destroy il.
The regular price is two thousand coppers,
cash, or ~ for every year of their lives; for
sometimes girl will be saved for a year or
two, and then sold for wife or slave /
Many instances have come to the notice Of
missionaries where large families of girls have
been destroyed, There is one woman now en-
ployed as nurse in n missionafy's family At
Foo Chow. who says that her mother had eight
grls and three boys, and that she was the only
girl permitted by her father,to live. We never
heard Of an instance Of boy sbeine destroyed
at birth. There is village about fifteen miles
from Foo Chow, which is swarming with boys,
but where girls are very scarce The people
account for it themselves byalegingthe com
mon practice OF killing the girls OF brlh--a
practice which is INDUCED in by the rich as
we'll ~ by the poor,