Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-07-21
CHINESE MINISTER'S DAUGH.
TER.
The BarbarOus Acts OF Hcr0isn Of q
Chinese Lady Educated I'm London.
From the SATURDAY. Review.

From the Saturday Review,
Under the modern rules Of society women
have almost as many outlets for their energy as
men, and they certainly are not backward in
taking advantage of them. They jostle men in
the hunting field, they penetrate Amazonian
forests. they hOb-nOb with South African SOW
eigns, they cross the Rocky mountains, or live
among the hairy savages Of YezO. In other
Chimes and under different conditions the out
ward manifestations vary, but the same motive
power is there still
OF all women in the world, the ladies of China
are probably kept in the closet bondage; for,
while they are compelled to render to their par
ents an obedience more absolute than is prac-
tsed in any other country, with the acquisition
of husbands they find themselves committed not
only to complete acquiescence in the wills OF
their lords, but also to vertable bondage to
their fathers aud NOTWITHSTANDING. This last con.
sderation, coupled with the inevitable doubt
whether each will be the only star to shine in
her new sphere, deprives matrimony of that
charm which generally surrounds it in the eyes
of madens. Such a reversal of the common or
der of things could only exist in country where
the needle points to the south, and where men
wear petticoats Where otherwise would one
find young ladies banded together in anti-matri-
mOnial societies, and ready to say with Her.
mia:
So will we die, my lord,
Ere we Will yield our virgin patent up
Unto their lOrdShipS, to whose unwiSded yoke
Our souls consent not to give sovereignty.
Imagine fifteen Mayfair maidens throwing
themselves together into the Thames rather
than accept the husbands proposed for them, as
so many young girls did at Canton not long ago.
But. If once the objection to marriage be over
come, such young ladies show as keen a desire
to fulfill every duty of the state to which they
have been called as they before did to avoid I'M
dertaking any duty at all.
A daughter of the late Chinese minister to
London. kwO SungtaOn, has recently afforded
ain admirable example OF what wife should be.
dare and do. According to the Pekin Gazette.
at the tender age of seventeen she consented
to become the wife Of the brother of Tso
Tsung-tang the cOnqueror of Kuldja. Not
husband fell III, and when ordinary nourishing
food failed to revive her PROSTATE lord, she
with more than courage sliced piece Of flesh
from her arm and mixed it with his broth.
But cher pretty action did Outsell her gift. ~
and In spite Of her herOism her husband died.
This event. which might well have brought to
close record of self-devOtiOn, only opened
new field for the exercise of sanity duty Tso
had gone and could not come back to her but
there was no reason why she should not 20 to
him. So she refused to swallow anything but
g0ld-!eaf. Here, however, some unseen power
interposed. and the gold neither choked her nor
wrought the mischief which the more costly
powdered diamonds produce with the victims OF
Indian assassins. Struck with wonder at this
miracle. her friends besought her to throw away
the poison and to remain yet little while with
them. This. after some msgivings, she consent
ed to do; but. keeping the word of promise to
their ear and breaking 1t to their hope, she took
advantage of the first illness which overlook her
to perform happy despatch by starving herself