The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-03-29
BOW Small Feel are Manufaoturrs.d rrs.d in ohina


An American, sojourning in Hongkong,
gives the following interesting particulars in
regard to small feet and how they are manu-
factured in China: IN g3v3o2 .qeso4
There are small footed ladies at Hongkong
who gain very fair livelihood by exhibiting
their pedal extremities to sea acaptains and
! other curious Europeans, at a dollar head !;
but as SO superficial an examination of this
national peculiarly did not satisfy me, l had
recourse to some of my good friends among
the missionaries. BY their aid / obtained
that some poor Chinese woman should bring
me a complete gamut OF little girls from the
missionary schools. Many OF these female
children probably owed their lives to the per-
suasion (aided by opportune donations of rice J
OF my missionary friend and his lady, but
their influence had been powerless to prevent
the torture of their feet. S. 8s ]
On the appointed day they were all seated
in a row in my friends library, and their feet,
which Isuspect had undergone preparatory
washing, were unbound by the mammas. The
first was child of two years old. Her PEN
ance had just commenced. When the band
age Of blue cotton was taken Off T. found that
the great toe had been left untouched, but the
other four had been forced down under the
ball of the foot, ahd closely bound in that DO
sition. The child, therefore, walked upon The
knuckle joints of her four toes. The toes
were red and inaamed, and the ligature caus-
ed evident pain. ft4@ ahne iolaas oS s
& In the next three children (all Of ages ad
vancing at small intervals) the preparation
WAS only to the same extent, it was con-
fined to the four toes; gradually, however,
these four toes, ceding to the continual pres
sure, lost their articulations and their identity
as limbs, and became amalgamated with the
sole of the foot. In the eldest Of the four,
redness and Inflammation had entirely disap-
peared, the foot was cool and painless and ap-
peared as though the four toes had been cut
Off by knife. The foot was now somewhat
) in the shape of a trowel. ard aiGe t4oa n
z In the fifth girl J saw the commencement of
the second Operation-a torture under which
sickly children frequently die. The sole OF
Z the foot was now curved into the shape of a
bow, the great toe and the heel being brought
together as near as possible. Take jujube
and double it till two points of the lozenge
nearly meet, and you will see what mean. -
This is done very gradually. The bandage is
never slackened d-month by month it is drawn
tighter-the foot infames and swells, but the
tender mamma perseveres-as the bones and
tendons accommodate themselves to the posi-
ton constrained by the bandage, so it is drawn
tighter. s-il IS, fo9-ig -.,es si -8.
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 Isl shapeless lump. the instep is
where the ankle was, and all that is left to go
into the slipper and tread the ground is the
ball OF the great toe and heel. This is the
small foot of Chinese wonan--a bit OF toe
and bit of heel, witha mark, like cicatrice
left after huge cut, running up between
them. ef -
Two Of the girls were yet suffering great
pain, and their feet were hot and infamed, but
in the eldest the operation was complete. She
had attained the position of a small-footed
woman, and her feet were quite cool, had no
corns, and were not tender to the touch. One
of the mammas, influenced perhaps by a little
liberality in the article Of rice money, intrust-
ed me with Chinese mysteye de toilette
Sometimes, it seems, when woman is expect
ed to have to do hard work, her toe and heel are
not drawn so tightly together as to produce
the "small foot.n To disguise this imperfection
on her marriage day, she has recourse to art.
A piece of cork, shaped like an inverted sug-
ar-loaf, is strapped on to her foot, and the
small part goes into the slipper and passes for
her foot. Thus are we poor men deceived.