The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1876-02-17
A Chinese Home.

One New-Year was invited to spend
the day with Chinese tea merchant and
his family; and as was anxious to learn
exactly how they observed the festal sea-
ION, begged them to make no change
either in their festivities or the bill Of
fare, but to let me be treated as one of
themselves. / had known the old mer-
chant and his sons for some time, but
had never met the ladies of his house
hold. There were three Of them-the
old gentleman's wife, an unmarried
daughter and the newly welded wife of
the eldest son. The last, / had heard,
was beautiful, but l was not prepared
for such vision of loneliness as met my
view, when the tiny-footed, gentle-spoken
twelve-year-Old bride was introduced by
her mother-in-law. She was very fair,
with eyes as bright as diamonds, and her
long, jet-black hair, i'll one heavy braid,
was twined with wreath of natural
flowers about the beautifully formed
head, and held in place by jeweled pins.
She wore earrings, of course, with neck
laces, chains, bracelets, and rings enough
to have constituted quite a respectable
fortune in themselves. Her dress was of
pale blue silk, very richly embroidered
all her own work, she told me. The
skirt hung in full plaits about her slen-
der figure, and the tight fitting
jacket showed toperfection the exquisite
ly rounded form, while the loose sleeve,
open to the elbow, displayed an arm that
might have served as q model for the
culptor. But all this loneliness was
only for female eyes, for before entering
the sitting room, where her husband,
father and brother-in-law were assembled,
she put on the long, loose, outer garment
that Chinese ladies always wear in "full
dress" This came below the knees, its
sleeves reaching to the tips of her fin
gers, whilst its loose, flowing style effec-
tualiy yelled the fairy form, hiding all its
symmetry. She had the tiny, pressed
feet that the Chinese consider not only
beautiful, but necessary to high breed
ing; and they were encased i'm the dain-
tiest of satin slippers, embroidered in
seed pearls. But tinery could not hide
the deformity produced by so unnatural
process, nor the awkward limp of the
poor little lady as she leaned on the
shoulders of her maidens in hobbling
from room to room. asked her if the
feet were still painful, and she replied
that for the last two or three years sort
of numbness had succeeded the pain, but
that formerly, and from her earliest re-
collection, her sufferings had been 50 in
tense that she would gladly have died
and that she had often, in frantic agony,
torn off the bandages, and when they
were replaced, shrieked and screamed
till delirium, for time, relieved the
consciousness of suffering. But after
the fifth year the pain gradually became
less intolerable, she said, and now she did
not think very much about it, except
when the bandages were changed. Then
the return of the blood to the foot was
such torture as language could not de-
scribe. Yet in reply to my question on
the subject, this gentle girl-wife said it
would be cruel in parent not to press
the feet of his daughter, as he thereby
shut her cut from good society, and
made plebeian of her for life.
The bandages are always applied in
early infancy, and before putting them
on, all the toes, except the first and sec
ond are doubled in beneath the soles of
the feet. The length of the foot, after
undergoing this painful operation, never
exceeds FIVE inches, and ordinarily is
scarcely four.
The young daughter of my host was a
petite maiden of ten, attired in dainty
robes of rose-colored satin, embroidered
in silver and her glossy raven hair was
disposed in two massive braids, hanging
down almost to her tiny feet, twinkling
in silver-hued slippers. Chinese maidens
wear their braids down, and the "crown
of wifehood" is symbolized by the coro-
net of hair laid for the first time on the
top of the head on the marriage-day.
Oriental customs always havea meaning.
X. Feudge in 81. Nicholas.