Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1867-05-29

scrub, wash clothes, wash dishes, sc
the table, and serve it, make bed
sweep, iron, dust, &c, &c. Each sci
want has his own department and wi
not do anything out of it. Water COO
lie will not scrub a floor, house cooli
will not bring water, dining-room cooli
will not make q bed, cook-house cooli
will not set the table, and so on. Thi
gives rise to the necessity of SO man,
servants in each household. And
n is told to do something out of hi
particular line, he looks astonished
and answers Rith amazement, saying
"he no belongec my pidjin l"(--
that universal word for business"
good Chinese servant is the best servan
in the world. They are tractable ant
perfectly obedient. They must at frs
be shown how exactly to do what is re
quired, and from that time henceforth
and forever they will do that thing ex
actly in that way they think of NJ
other mode. For the Chinese, yoT
know, never change. They live nos
and work by the same modes as theil
ancestors did before the birth of Christ
With them, antiquity is the highest
authority.
The climate here is very peculiar,
There are no seasons as with US spring
and fall are unknown, and even winter
is scarcely recognizable. Think Of it,
here now it is the middle of January,
my house is ali open, no fires, birds aFe
singing all around me, roses and came
las are in full bloom in the gardens,
the morning glory is climbing and
blooming over the highest trees in the
ground green peas, radishes, lettuce,
asparagus, &C., are daily on the dinner
table; and last year | ate green corn
from the cob at dinner in the house of
a friend on the ODD of February 1t was
raised in his garden and the seed came
from America. And now we have had
Ito consecutive cloudless days. the
weather as beautiful and balmy as ever
beamed from the heavens since Eden
was closed. The temperature during
all that time has not been below $50,
nor above 700; ranging from $50 to &c,
and it now looks as though the same
delightful season would still continue.
Nothing of climate could be conceived
of more lovely than this season has
been. Fsost has never been known
here. The summers are, of course,
pretty hot, though 7 did not find my
self greatly oppressed by the heat of
| last summer. Certainly l did not ex-
pose myself much to the suns rays
None but the natives of China or India
90 abroad in the sunshine during the
| heat of simmer. Such exposure is
dangerous to Americans and Europeans.
The summer heat begins to be oppres-
siVe about the middle of Nav, and con-
tinues till the middle of September.
| During this time the hot winds or
southwest monsoon prevail; the other
portion OF the year the north west mon
soon is the prevailing wind, and those
monsoons constitute really the only
seasons known here.
Woman in China is in an anomalous
condition. She is regarded simply as of
no account. Though. in view of the
multitudinous population of these re-
gions, I don't exactly see how they
could well get along without them.
Still, mt are not i'll used by their
Lords and masters The latter, to all
appearances, simply give them a terri
BILE letting alone" | have never wit
messed the slightest act of gallantry
shown by a Chinaman towards a China
woman nor have l eVer seen the
slightest abuse of them. The ''little
footed" women are simply objects of
pity in nv mind. They are voluntary
cripples. 1t is merely a mark of
aristocracy of breeding. Rich men will
never marry a large footed woman.
And yet the same men condemn the
| practice of c~ompreessing the feet. But,
If the Chinese err in comprising the
foot, they are certainly guiltless of such
improperly as TO the waist. Women
in China have no waists; they are
actually formless. Their style of dress
utterly conceals every line of the fg-
ure. Their dress is a system of sacks
and bags-sacks for the body, bags for
the limbs.
They dress very richly, but never in
~Variegated colors; hence, calico is IN
known in China as a material for dress.
The troBsers, yoiIminuus as you know.
may be of a color different from the
coat, which they call 8 shirt, but the
bdLlC a LAChG h6o uCNCL oaN OlC WIN
The hair is dressed in the most exag-
gerated manner conceivable. l have
seen it stuck out at the back of the
head full ten inches from the scalp
They spend hours in its arrangement,
they have wonderfully luxurRnt suits
of hair. / have seen them, when the
hair was down, stand erect with their
heels upon the hair. In order to make
! it keep its place when fully dressed, in
stead of resorting 10 rats" mice" and
''such small deer" they use a kind of
gum, obtained by boiling the chips of a
certain wood used by carpenters. They
are e~xtravagsntly fond of parading
their umbrellas; 1 often see Chinese
women walking together in beautiful
starlight evenings with umbrellas at
full spread They are blessed with en-
tire exemption from the wearing OF
bonnets. Their only head covering is
a gay Madras handkerchief, which they
frequently embroider very elaborately
for this purpose. They are, in common
with their sex everywhere, fond of
iewelry, but 1t must be none of your
gold nonsense" nothing meaner than
pure porcelain, or yAde stone will
suffice for celestial tastes. Glass is ad-
missible if it be a particularly bright
green. The Chinese are exceedingly
modest in their manners, and perfectly
so in their dress. In the heat of the
summer laboring men frequently 60 al
most utterly nakeI, but l saw a
China woman, even of the laboring
classes, make the slightest exposure of
person even under the most oppressive
heat. The women are generally very
ignorant, it is net considered needful
for them to learn to read or write /;
hence but few can write their names, or
resd at all
There is one peculiar institution"