Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1871-05-18
CHINESE WOMEN.
Something New About Them.

Mrs. 5. L. Baldwin, the mission
ary to China, lectured in Philadel-
phia recently. OF the woman in
China she said: The women of Chi
M are divided into two classes-the
bound-footed who are the ladies, and
the. large footed, who are the COM
mon class. The latter carry the
burdens, do all the drudging and
outdoor work, while their husbands
do nothing. When little girl is
born the parents think the gods are
angry with them, and they hold q
consultation whether she shall be al
lowed to live or not. If she is,
when she arrives at the, age of four
they hold another consultation
wether she shall be a bound-footed
woman. If she is chosen to be a
bound-footed she is not permitted
to do anything, but if otherwise she
has to be the family's slave. / have
seen a woman with four children
STRAPPED to her back and rowing a
boat; while the husband laid in his
cabin smoking his pipe. Girls have
no choice of their husbands; the
young girl is sold by her parents at
the highest price they can obtain
for her, until after they marry. If
he chooses he can be divorced from
her for talking too much; if he be-
comes poor, or gets tired of her, he
sells her again. In the coldest
weather the arge-footed women are
not allowed to wear stockings, and
cannot dress in any other colors
than black or blue. The manner in
which they make their feet small is
by binding the four toes under the
foot, which they keep bound up for
about eleven years, when the foot
becomes dead, i have walked through
the streets when the women would
brush against me so rs to see my
feet, so that they could tell to what
class l belonged. / would say to
them, II will show you my feet but
do not pull my clothes,as tbs rude"
When l would expose my feet to
them they would exclaim: "Why,
have you no real ladies in Amer
lea" And the only way that l
could make them believe that we
had, was by telling them that the
women read books like the men,
which utterly astounded them, as
the real Chinese is brought up in |
the utmost ignorance, and they only |
marry in the rich families, because
they know and do so little, and need |
so much waiting upon that it takes
rich husband to support them. If
you ask a Chinese woman how many |
children she has, she will only give
you the number of the boys. She |
has to be asked the second time |
how many girls she has, rs they are
thought so little of that in many |
cases they are killed as soon as
born. A large-footed woman told
me once that her first child was a
little girl, and she described to me
how she loved the little one. "My I
husband went out" she said, ''and
brought in 4 tub of water. [ beg
ged him to spare its life, but he took
the little thing and put its head in the
water and held it there Natil it was
dead" Her second babe was a
and it was served the same
way as the first; the third child was
q boy; he lived until he was about
four years old, then the gods got
angry and killed him; then my hus-
band died; and if l eat anything
that is nice, and if l weargood clothes
my relatives become angry and treat
me harshly." Even in our Christian
churches in China the women are
not allowed in the same room with
the men, but are partitioned off in a
n lattice-wOrk room,