The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-02-08
Bound Feet of chinese women.

Iron shoes are neither used nor known
In China. The method Is simply TO use
y strong muslin bandage. have never
heard Of the bindings being put on
child under four years of age, and /
think they oftener wsit until she Is two
or three years older. In one school that
! had all the girls were in the fest year
of binding. The youngest was six years
old and the eldest eight OF course, the
later the binding Is begun the greater
the pain. The bsndage of muslin usu-
ally Is three er four feet long and from
five to seven inches wide. They CON-
mence at the middle of its length, pass
ing It under the toes and crossing the
two halves over the top, pulling each
part tightly, and 50 on over and under
until the foot is covered very tightly. As
the bandage approaches the heel, fold
Is thrown around it, with o pull forward
toward the toes, 10 shorten the foot.
This pulling forward of the heel in time
forces the instep up in q most painful
and ugly manner, and Just here they Of
ten find the greatest trouble in this cruel
custom, for the pressure is sometimes so
great upon the instep that the skin
bursts, Inflammation and liberation sets
In, and the child may die. ~ have heard
of but few fatal cases, however, though
there might be many and we not know
of them. fos1 1-- 80 t77i
The first year the foot Is simply ban
DANCED tightly, TO suppress the growth.
The second year all the small Toes are
folded down under the foot, leaving
only the larger toes In their natural po-
sition. The polling Of the heel forward
and forcing the instep up has made o
little hollow under the foot, where the
I'll Il~,l L. g. .~lo n
am told that the tight bsndsging stops
the growth Of the nails, 80 that they do
not give trouble. The same sort Of
bandage Is used. and the binding done
rs in the first year, only this time with
ton of the toes This process of bind
ing Is kept mp for years, from eight to
eleven, and even longer in some cases,
before the greatly desired tiny shoe
worn at Funchau and further south
can be put on. This shoe measures
from two and oneIhaH to three inches
in length, and q babe week old of
medium size can not wear it. Or course,
all this bandaging is accompanied with
the greatest pain. have many times
seen these little victims of custom kick
ing and screaming while the mother or
some one else was binding up the poor
little feet. And vet 50 strong Is the adj
miration for such feet and % great the
respect for those who have them that
little girls -often ask to have their feet
bound, and bravely try to suppress the
|. cry of pain; but the larger number are
not of such heroic spirit, and rebel vig-
orously under the torture, sometimes
going aside and slyly loosening the ban
dages for . little relief to the tortured
feet, only 10 be punished and to have
the bandages again tightened. As the
process goes on the muscles shrink
away, the bones are bent or broken, and
finally the foot looks like nothing hu-
! man, but Is an unsightly bunch of bones,
with just circulation enough to preserve
life. There would seem 70 be real de-
struction of muscle, from the fact that
/ the feet become very offensive during a
part of the time. Frequent bathing in
hot water Is resorted to. and, IL the skin
breaks and sores appear, certain reme-
dies are used. 5 ~ -s'i4s-f
A medical friend Of mine had an elab-.
orate scroll presented to him by the
father OF q girl whose liberated feet he
had cured. The inscription on the scroll
eulogized him as . great and skillful
physician. When the feet have been
reduced to the desired size and the
bandages need no longer be used to les
sen them, they must still always be
/ worn 70 give strength and firmness to
, the crushed feet. examined carefully
one pair of such feet Il could never bring
myself 10 look at q second pair). The
woman was thirty years old and weighed
about 115 pounds. She was quite un-
willing at first to show me her feet un-
covered. They are generally 10th to do
this, for they know very well that the
feet are most unsightly. Very willing
and proud are they to exhibii them en-.
cased in the exquisitely embroidered
tiny satin shoe, but do not like to re-
move the covering and show the hideous
deformity within The woman whose
feet saw told me that hers were bound
eleven years before they became adead
feet"-that Is, ceased 70 pain her; but
that even yet, IL she stood hong, walked
much, or her feet became heated. or she
wore new shoes, they often gave her
much pain. The little toes vere nresss5
into the hollow under the foot, the heel
was heightened considerably, and she
passed the large toe and heel toward
each other under the foot, so that they
touched. My heart was sick as looked
at this ruin of Gods handiwork. and
thought of the thousands enduring that
torture at thst moment. These are the
real lady feet, the "golden lilies,, of
South China, and greatly do they won
der at our full-grown feet--Furchau
Ger. ". p. Independent.