The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-12-31
xhiNEsE MARRIAGES..
Land Where Courtshlp and Love-Letters
Are Unknown Institutions.

| Are UnknOWn Institutions
IA Chinese love-lettcr! Have I any
old-fashioned Chinese love-letters in my
trunk? Have 1 gilt edged Chinese
billot-doux with a monogram like q
crows track? There was never love-
letter WI item in Chinese. No Chinese
maiden ever penned q billet-doux or
sent q valentine"
Rather sadly was this said by q TO
mantle young Chinaman. MIR. Hong
Wing, who is noted among the Chinese
for the SIX II with which he plays on the
mandolin.
'In China" continued he, "a man
never sees his wife until he is welded
to her for life, and sometimes he does
not see her then. for she may refuse to
remove her veil until three days have
elapsed after the wedding. II he
dosn't like her he can not get a divorce
but he may marry another wife, and
| then another and another, until he has
gone through the blindfold lottery often
enough to get one that suits him. Some
of the Chinese Croesues have hundreds
of wifes. There was an old bachelor
who took it into his head to get married
one winter. and he married two hun
dred wives before he got through. The
last wife is the favOrite, but the first one
| is the boss"
IF man never sees his wife before
their wedding, how does he make love
to her?"
"He doesn't make love to her. His
mother arranges the match, and his
future mOther-in-law makes love to
him. 1t is a sour courtship. Children
are formally engaged to other children
that they have never seen, at the tender
aye of nine or ten, and after an en-
gagement of ten or twelve years they
get married"
"Docs Chinaman ever marry his
cousin?"
heard of in China. a man may no
more marry his cousin in China than in
England he may marry his deceased
wifc's sister. You talk about your old
families here, and your oldest families
are only five generations old. In China
families are seventy-five and eighty
generations old, and every member has
a complete record of his ancestors for
all these generations. The remotest
kipship prevents marriage in China. and
# two families have the faintest imagin-
able kinship seventy-fivc generations
back their children can not marry"
"What are the most common families
in your country"
1.-The Chens. tho Wongs, and the
Lees. The Chcns are the Smiths of
China, the Wongs are the Jones. and
the Lees are the Browns. A Mr.. Chen
would marry Miss Wong, but he
wouldn't marry Miss Chen. Perhaps
that is the reason the old folks make
the matches. 1t prevents the Chens
from falling in love with orc another. "
care the Chinese ladies cultivated"
''Oh, yes; they can read and write.
draw, paint and embroider. They never
go out on the street with their husbands.
If Chinese man and woman were to
walk on the street arm in arm in their
country as American men and women
do. they would be mobbed. The women
stay indoors. If they wish to visit their
mothers they take conveyances. Some
times they may be seen walking in the
park with their children"
"YOu are married."
Eyes"
ITO Chinese lady?"
mo: to an American. p! came to this
country when boy eleven years old.
Though was nine thousand miles from
China, my mother betroihed me to a
little Chinese girl had never seen. My
mother used to write to me how small
her feet were and how pretty she was.
and what beautiful. cat-like nose she
had. When l was twenty years old
mother sent me letter saying l was
old enough to get married and must
come back to China and marry the
girl"
.What did you think about i.?e'
81 thought l was old enough, and so
fell heels over queue in love with an
American girl in Nevada and married
her. We had our pictures taken. and
sent one to my mother, together with
an account of the wedding, which
translated from an American newspa-
per into Chinese"
what happened?''
1.-The next thing knew my uncle and
four cousins came on 10 the United States
and had me arrested for bigamy. was
taken before court and tried. My
uncle went on to the stand and swOre
that l had wife in China
''What did Won think then?''
II thought l was in box, as you
Americans say. The Judge asked the
witnesses how old l was when 1 left
China. They replied that my mother
had picked her out for me, and that in
Chinese law was the same rs marriage.
The judge said that they didn't have
any Chinese statutes in this country,
and my uncle innocently replied that
he would send to China for
some. Everybody in the court
laughed. and as 1 lived in the
town ever since came to America. all
knew that had left China a little boy,
SO the jury acquitted me. Ny uncle
told the judge that he would be behead.
ed when he went back to China, which
was monstrOus tib with which he in
tended to scare the Judge. l have
never been back to China, and suppose
the little girl whom l never saw is
grass widow. Poor child" -Brookayn
Citizen.
Geronimo has got over his sulks
and is now in a talking humor. Ho
says that bad white men drove him to
leave the reservation, but when asked
what drove him to butcher upwards of
three hundred people who couldn't have
injured him in any way he can't make
any satisfactory oyDlanatiOn had