The St. Johns herald., 1889-09-05

E- whole, a very hard one. From the cradle to the grave her life is full of drudgery and hardship, without vari- ety or relief.
 The student of the Chinese people is surprised at the low estate of the mothers, wives and daughters. "She can not be either evil or good''-this idea forms the basis Of the treatment of the female sex.
 It is generally true that the religion of any country rather than its ciyiliza- tion determines the position of the women in it. The only native religion of China - Confucianism organized and developed mo e than two thousand years ago, recognizes only the male sex.
 Another reason for the small esteem in which women are held in China is found in the social customs Of the peO- pie. In their boys the parents see the comfort and support of old age, and what is even of more importance, the performance Of tho sacrifice at their graves which shall secure them 9 hap py future after death.
 But when 8 daughter marries she parts from her parents and family for ever. No kinship with them is there after recognized, and beyond one or two formal visits all intercourse with them is at an end.
 Under this heathenish custom it is small wonder that Q Chinese mother and father should feel that in rearing a daughter every thing done for her i5 really wasted, or at least done for the benefit of strangers. She must marry, because it is disreputable to remain single; and in marriage they arc forced to lose her.
 Allowed no place or part in the re- ligion of her country, and forced to desert her own home for one chosen by others. without the least reference toher own feelings, tho Chinese girl seems to be but stray in her own land and among her own people.
 Dark as the picture seems in nreality, some writers have represented the con- dition of females in China as worse than it is, and quite wrong opinions are the result For instance, in North China, at least, there is no such exten- sive murder of female infants as has been asserted. Cases doubtless do cc- cur in which mothers destroy their children, as they do in America, but the crime is rare, and is regarded as 9 crime, as iti in other countries.
 The birth of daughter is not made the occasion of rejoicing as is the birth pf son. It is regarded as 0 calamity in any family to have many daughters and no sons. It is even allowed as ground for divorce. But when there is one or more sons in family the coming of daughter is regarded with satisfaction and even with joy. She can help the mother look after the children and be a maid-cf-all- about the house.
 The Chinese, as @ people, have strong natural affections. They love all their children, and while not dar- ing to set aside and defy long-estab- lished customs and preiuGices, many of them nourish and care for their daughters as tenderly as their sons
 A high Chinese official once said to me that in his opinion one of the best things about Western nations was the care and kindness shown to girls by their parents and friends; and that China's greatest shame was in her treatment of females. For his part he had always made it rule to treat his wife as his equal, and his daughters with the same care and affection shown his sons.
 The first event in the life of Chi nese girl is the binding of her feet. which is done at two or three years of age. The four smaller toes are doubled in under the great toe and against the ball of the loot and bound tightly in that position. The heel is also forced up against the back of the ankle and held there by bandages. These bandages are never removed until the foot has become distorted into the new unnatural shape, and but seldom afterward
 Of course the process causes the most intense pain, and sometimes re- suits in modification of the feet and death. People in America often re- fuse to believe that Chinese women, even with bound feet, can wear the tiny shoes that are sometimes shown as curiositieA They, however, do wear just such tiny shoes. The ap- parent impossibilty is explained away by the fact that only the large toe, with the smaller doubled underneath, Is put within the shoe the heel of