McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1884-09-25
Domestic Hacits of China.

China is the country of long tresses
and short feet; a couRtry where tea is
drank without sugar or milk and where
two little ivory sticks, skillfully handled
between the finger and thumb, replace
the fork and spoon; country where
you call the first man you meet your
elder brother; where to ask shoemaker
his address it is necessary to. inquire
''what noble palace" he inhabits; a
country where the creditor has the right
to make an insolvent debtor pay his bill
with piece of his flesh, and where the
debtor, by way of revenge, hangs him
self at his creditors door; a country
where the son ruins himself to buy a
coffin for his dead father, and, covered
with a hempen garment, walks back
ward as he follows his sumptuous fu-
neral; country where people work for
rice instead of working for their bread,
but which is of earth. and not of lac
quer-work and porcelain; and where,
as in other countries the husband loves
his wife and the orange-colored mother
loves her slant-eyed children.
1t is country, moreover, where the
bride attaches great Importance to the
personal appearance of the bridegroom,
and the bridegroom equal importance
to the moral qualities of the bride; and
the basis of many Chinese dramas, as of
dramas in other parts of the world, is
the passion of love. Women have been
forbidden to appear on the stage since
the days when celebrated actress in
spired the Emperor with fatal caprice.
The men who undertake female as well
as male parts, play with good express
lures, some of which, though derived
from the observation of reality, have at
last acquired purely conventional
value. An actor who, pivoting on his
left foot, makes circular movement
with his right, is understood to be get
ting on horseback. To cut the air with
riding whip is to indicate, through the
connection of cause with effect, gal
Looping pace. The exhibition of pieces
of gold cloth with wheels painted on
them has almost an arbitrary meaning,
and signifies that the Emperor is COM
ing.
Etiquette is rigidly observed. A
young girl walking in the streets must
not turn her head around; nor at home
is she to glance shyly at visitors, She
is to remember, moreover, that girls
who are always laughing and talking
are not esteemed, and that virtuous
women have been honored from the
earliest times. The philosopher Mendze
grieved when he saw his mother break
her shuttle; the woman Tsoun threw
herself onto a sword in order to save
her husbands life; the mother of 40,
being so poor that she could not buy
writing materials, taught her son to
read by tracing characters in the sand.
Women should be able to read, write
and use the counting machine, so as to
be in position to direct household.
They should read books of piety and
stories of morality in action, while
avoiding love-poetry, songs and anec-
dotes. Women should be reserved; and
they are cruelty enjoined never to occu-
ply themselves with other peoples at
fairs. Men ought never to talk of do
nestle matters, while women should
never talk of anything else. When a
visitor is in the drawing-r0om the lady
of the house should never be heard rails
ing her voice in the kitchen. Women
are not to paint their faces and wear
striking colors, for the insufficient rea-
son that if they do men will look at
them. Young women, as well as young
men, are to be dutiful to their parents,
and always in good humor, even when
their father and mother are not
China is, in short, country of primi-
tive manners and morals, very simple,
tranquil and picturesque.