Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-02-17
A Chinese Home.

ONE New Year I was invited to spend
the day with Chinese tea merchant and
his family; and as [ was anxious to learn
exactly hoAv they observed the festal sea.
son, I begg ed them to make no change
either in their festivities or the bill of fare.
but to let me be treated just as one of
themselves. / hl,d known the old mer-
chant and his sons FOR some time, but had
never met the Ladies of his household
There were three of them. e., the old
gentleman's wife, an unm arried daughter
and the newly-wedded wife of the eldest
son. The last, I had heard, was beauti-
tul, but | was not prepared for such a
vision OF lovliness as met my view, when
the tiny -footed gentle-spoken twelve year
old bride was introduced by her mother
ln-law. She was very fair, vita eyes
bright as diamonds, and her long, jet
black hair, in 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 necklaces, chains, bracelets
and rings enough to have constituted quite
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 slender figure, and the tight fitting
jacket showed to perfection the exquisite
~ rounded form, while the loose sleeve,
open to the elbow, displayed an arm that
might have served as model for sculp-
tor. But all this loneliness was only for
female eyes, for, before entering the sit
tlng-rOom where her husband, father and
brother in-law were assembled she put on
the long, loose, outer garment that Chi
nese ladies always wear when in full
dress" This came below the knee, its
sleeves reaching to the tips of her fingers,
whilst its loose, flowing style efectually
yelled the fairy form, hiding all its SYM
metry. She had the tiny, pressed
feet that the Chinese consider not
only beautiful, but necessary to high
breeding; and they were encased in
the daintiest of satin slippers, en-
broidered in seed pearls. But finery
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 hob
the feet were still painful, and she replied
that for the last two or three years a sort
of numbness had succeeded the pain, but
that formerly, and from her earliest recol-
lection, her sufferings had been so 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 con-
seriousness 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 re-
turn of the blood to the foot was such tor
ture as language could not describe 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 out from
good so ciety, and made piebeian of her
for life.
The bandages are always applied in
early infancy, and before putting them on
all the toes except the first and second 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 i'm 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. ORR
entail customs always have a meaning
Fannie e. Feudge, in st. Nicholas.