The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-10-27
COMPRISING the Feet.

for having suffered child in her custody
to remain with feet bandaged, was called
for trial in the Police Court yesterday
The child, a girl twelve years of age,
was carried into court by Mr.. Locke, the
Chinese interpreter, and placed in chair
on the witness stand The arresting Of
ficer testified that he found the girl on
Pacific street, in the care of the accused,
and that she was scarcely able to walk
and appeared to be in great pain. The
mother of the girl testified that the oper-
alton of reducing the feet of the girl was
commenced in China, by Chinese doc.
tor, who had charge of the child for one
year. Since then the girls feet had been
kept bandaged to prevent them from in
creasing in size. The girl, she said, had
now arrived at an age when she could
apply the bandages herself, and could
have them loose or tight as she pleased.
The mother said that it was the custom
in China to stunt the growth of the feet
of female children, so that when the girls
grew up they might marry rich mer-
chants who would not make them work.
The defendant, said the witness, was the
grandmother of the child, but she did
not have control Of her. AT the request
of the Judge, the girl removed the band
ages from one of her feet. 1t was demon
strated by this exhibition that, by reason
of the Darbarous treatment to which the
girl had been submitted since childhood,
the feet have been deformed, and never
can be restored to their normal condi-
ton. The Judge dismissed the com
plant against the accused on the ground
that she did not have the care of the
child, but intimated that the parents
should be arrested. This is the first case
of the kind ever tried in this city.
The Rev. Mr. Doolittle, an English
missionary, in a book on everyday life
of the Chinese, writes as follows on the
subject of COMPRISING the feet of Chi,
nese females: The distinction between
the size and shape of the feet of the
women constitutes the caste of China, if
there be anything which constitutes caste
in this Empire. The common people
neither know nor care anything about
the origin of the custom or comprising
the feet of small girls. Few of the lit
erary class seem 30 have any clear opin
ion in regard to its origin. Some say
that an Empress by the name of Tak-ki,
during the Shang dynasty, originated the
custom. She had club feet, and pre-
vailed upon her husband, in order to con-
ceal the deformity, to cause all ladies of his
courtto compress or bandage their feet. In
this way they were made to appear with
feet like hers. Others say that the praC
tice began in the time of the Tang dy
nasty, which tlourished about 1 900 years
ago. Puang Hi, according to these, in
augurated the practice by first binding
her own feet. By degrees people imi-
tated her example until the custom pre-
vailed in all the provinces of the EN-
pire. The dominant race in the Empire,
the Manchu Tartars, do not allow their
women to bind or cramp their feet 1t
units a beauty for entrance into the i'm
perial harem. The penalty is instant
death should any small-footed female en-
ter the imperial palace at Pekin-at
least, such is the common saying. The
feet of the girls usually when about five
or SIX years OF age are compressed by
bandaging, to prevent the further growth
and to reduce them to the form and
appearance so much admired by the
rich and literary people of China. For
this purpose the foot is extended at the
ankle, the tleshy part of the heel is
pressed downward and forward, and the
entire foot is carefully wound with a long
bandage from the ankle to the extremity
of the toes and back again. 1t will be
readily understood that this process
checks the circulation of the blood and
retards or entirely prevents the further
growth OF the foot. The small toes are
naturally, or rather unnaturally, crowded
together and somewhat bent under the
foot. The foot is prevented from spread
ing out, as, when the weight of the body
is thrown upon it as in a state of free
dom, it becomes very narrow and taper
ing to point at the end of the great
toe. The instep becomes unnaturally
prominent, and the oS-cdLc6s, or bone
which forms the bottom and posterior
part of the heel, is somewhat turned
downward. The foot compressed is
placed in a short, narrow shoe, tapering
toa point, and sometimes a block of wood
is used, so supporting the heel that the
body seems to stand on tip-toe, the heel
being from one to two inches higher than
the toe. The heel also extends back
ward and upward beyond the heel of the
shoe, so foot really four or five inches
long will stand easily in and upon a shoe
only three or three and half inches in
length, the ankle remaining nearly of
the natural size and the instep being very
prominent. The organs of locomotion
present to Western observers a very I'M
couth appearance.
Usually it requires two or three years,
properly attended to, for the feet to be
crammed into the genteel shape. There
is no iron or wooden shoe used for COM
pressing the feet The instruments en-
ployed are strips of cloth like narrow
bandages. The foot gradually shrinks
and shrivels up. When the bandages
are removed for the sake of washing the
feet or of bandaging tighter, the small
toes, after months or years of compress
sion, are unable to resume their natural
appearances and position, but remain
cramped and are almost without sensa-
ton. When the process is begun at the
proper age, and the bandaging is prop
erly attended to, the heel sometimes
comes down to the ground, or rather to
the level of the end of the large toe
The heel seems, under the process of
bandaging, to elongate, but when the