The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-08-03
Law. Of Abortion in China.

i
One of the gravest calamities to be
spprehended BY Chinaman is to die
without leaving male posterity to care
for his ashes and decorate his grave,
thereby pacifying his wandering spirit
in purgatory. Therefore, to have the
good fortune to become the father of 8
son is properly considered to be mat.
ter worth Boosting of, and something to
be long remembered. 1t is generally
with manifestations of unbounded Joy,
approximating to childish glee, that the
father of the newborn male infant
heralds its advent, often spending q
third of his entire fortune in celebrating
the joyful event. Such, however, is moi
the case when female child is born, fol
reasons which are given hereafter.
This almost universal fear of leaving
in death no son to execute the family
ceremonies and perform the post-mor-
tenn services is confined in greater part
to the middle classes, being scarcely
ever realized by the weather. families,
owing to their pSIrality of wives.
Neither does it have serious weight in
the minds of those who are extremely
poor; but among those who occupy a
position midway between the two, as
above remarked, it occasions great con.
Germ.
China is the only country where bach.
elors are sometimes rendered supremacy
happy by taking advantage of a system
of lawful robbery of the happiness of 9TH
ers. Individually the bachelor is not only
an object of aversion to the fair maidens
of the place of his nativity, but he is
considered a useless ornament to soci-
ETY. in general, besides being an object
of especial fear among those of his own
kindred; for, being wifeless himself,
and, consequently, without issue, he
can, if he so choose, legally claim the
first-born male child of any one of his
younger brothers with impunity, the
bereaved parents having no redress.
The law governing this point dis
tinctly says: If an elder brother shall
have arrived at the age of fifty years,
being barren, he may take the first male
child born to any of his younger broth
ers and claim him as his own by right
of inheritance, the male child SO chosen
to become his legal representative and
heir to his estates"
But under no circumstances can the
younger brother, if likewise situated,
claim from an elder brother the same
privilege, because the son of an elder
brother is legally considered to be one
degree higher than the son of a younger
brother.
This somewhat peculiar and to the I'M
initiated, Lloubt not, interesting law of
adoption has been SO implicitly adhered
by the Chinese that is has created the
strongest feeling of affection and
mutlsal interest between brothers of the
same family. Three brothers, all of
whom were young men, sincerely at
tached to each other, came to this coun-
try some five years ago and started in
the laundry business in Chicago, at
which place formed their intimate
acquaintance. A year or two after
having been successful in amassing
quite little fortune-some 81, 100
among the three, the two younger
| brothers begged the elder to repair to
their far-distant home, carrying with him
the whole sum of their combined saw
ings and Immediately take to himself a
wife, hoping thereby to greatly lessen
the dread chances of being robbed of
their first-born son in the near future
through his remaining bachelor. He
was at first averse to this but finally
their united entreaties caused him to
take rather an unwilling departure,
since which time the two remaining
brothers have made another handsome
sum, and now the poor innocent younger
one of the two yet remaining is strenu-
ously endeavOring to persuade his sec
ond elder brother to follow the saiue
course.
1t will be obvious to the reader that
to have been born the seventh son is,
if subject of the Chinese empire,
thing to be deplored, for it entails the
greatest trouble on the poor unfortun-
ate. Even then it is better to have
been born the seventh son than the first
daughter, for although both may be
treated with the same tender solicitude
by their parents, yet their prospects
during the greater part of life are any
thing but cheerful, and particularly is
this the case in regard to the female
child, nor matter where she may rank in
the order of offspring. In the first
place, her right to inherit any portion
of her parents property is strictly
denied by the law, except conditionally
and in the following manner:
I'm cases where the parents are with
out male issue, either of their own or
through adoption in the manner al
ready described. and where the estate
is very large, the daughter may, if she
remain single and loyal to the members
of her parents house, or, being mar
ried, if she prevail upon her husband
to forswear forever his allegiance to his
own kindred and relatives of every de-
gree, and change his surname to that of
the daughters father, so as to forever
become his son, this being publicly re-
corded and acknowledged, the estates
then may be partially controlled by the
daughter for the benefit of herself in
the first instance, or by her husband.
the newly created son, in the second
instance, who would generally assume
the entire control, not only of her
property but also of herself"
The common laws of China prohibit
people of the same surname from in
fermarryinp Tins for instance i'm