St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-09-16
CHINA AT HOME.
Domestic Habits of the Country Where the
Wdr IS to be tagged.
New York Herald

New 1OrK iSrdlu.
China is the country of long tresses and
short feet country where tea is drank
without milk or sugar and where two little
ivory sticks, skillfully handled between the
finger and thumb, replace the fork and
spoon; a country where you call the first
man you meet your elder brother; where to
ask bootmaker his address it is necessary to
inquire ''what noble palace" he inhabits;
country where the creditor has the right to
make an insolvent debtor pay his bill with a
piece of his flesh, and where the debtor, by
way of revenge, hangs himself at the credit
or's door: country where the son ruins
himself to buy coffin for his dead father.
and, covered with hempen garment, walks
backward as he follows his sumptuous fu-
neral; a country where people work for their
rice instead of for their bread, but which is
of earth and not Of lacquer-work and porce-
lain; and where as in other countries the
husband loves his wife and the orange-col-
ored mother loves her slant eyed children.
1t is country, moreover where the bride
attaches great i'm portance to the personal APP
pearance of the bridegroom, and the BRIDE
groom equal importance to the
moral qualities Of the bride, and
the basis of many Chinese 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 Il celebrated
actress inspired the emperor with a fatal
caprice. The men who undertake female as
well as male parts, play with good expression
and use a supcrabundance OF gestures some
of which, though derived from the observa-
ton Of reality, have ut last acquired pure
ly conventional value. An actor who, piv-
citing on his left foot, makes a circular move
ment with his right, is understood to be get
ting on horseback. To cut the afr with
riding whip is to indicate, through the con-
nection of cause with effect, a galloping
pace. The exhibition Of pieces of gold cloth
with wheels painted on them has almost an
arbitrary meaning, and signifies that the
emperor is coming
Etiquette is rigidly observed. A young
girl walking on the street must not turn her
| head round; nor at home is she TO glance
sIyly at visitors. She is TO remember more
/ over, that girls who are always talking and
and laughing are not esteemed, and that
yirtuous women have been honorcd from
| the earliest times. The philosopher Mendze
/ grieved when he saw his mother break her
]
! 70 a sword TO save her husbands life; the
! mother Of 40 being 50 poor that she could
not bny writing materials taught her son to
4 read By tracing characters in the sand. Wo-
! men should be able TO read, write and use
the counting machine, 50 as to be in posi-
/ ton 10 direct household. They should read
books Of piety and stories of morality in ac-
ton, while avoiding love poetry, songs and
anecdotes. Women should be reserved:
and they are cruelty enjoined never to occu-
py their time with other peoples affairs.
Men ought never to talk Of domestic affairs,
while women should never talk Of anything
else. When a visitsr IL in the drawing-room
the lady Of the house should not be heard
raising her voice in the kitchen. Women
are not TO paint their faces and wear striking
colors, for the insufficient reason that If they
do men viii look at them. Young women
IS well as young men, are TO be dutiful 70
their parents, and always in good humor,
even when their father and mother are not
China is in short, country Of primitive
manners and primitive morals, very simple,
tranquil and picturesque.