Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-06-06

grown woman may have q sole only
three and half inches long.
| Sometimes not only the small toes,
but the entire ball of the foot Is
twisted and doubled into the arch Of
the foot
Fortunately this cruel practice is de-
creasing in North China through the
influence of the Imperial family.
which, being Tartar and not Chinese,
does not practice foot-binding.
Various theories have been given
for the origin of the custom. but the
most probable is that it was introduced
with view to keep women at home.
In this it is most successful
The gait of a small-footed woman is
exactly that of persons walking on
tiptoe, and those who have the
smallest most fashionable feet, can
only move about with the aid of a
cane or some other support Yet
Chinese poets speak of such distor-
tions of part of the body as golden
lilies" and iken the staggering walk
produced therefrom to '.the swaying
of the willows"
The first duty of a Chinese girl,
when she is old enough to walk, is to
look after her brothers. She is then
seen staggering around under the
weight of some lusty boy as large as
or larger than she is. She may get
certain amount of pleasure from his
games and amusements, but the poor
thing has none of her own.
She is never allowed on the streets
alone. and when at very rare inter-
walls she goes out in company with her
parents, she can not run and frolic.
With downcast eyes and rigid figure
she must walk in front, under their
watchful supervision. She may
neither look to tho right nor left nor
exchange word or glance with any
person. The Chinese girl must have
no acquaintances among the male
sex, excepting her father and brothers.
and must under no circumstances look
at. much less speak to, young man.
She is early taught to sew and to
perform the simple round of Chinese
cooking and the drudgery of the
household. Here her education ends.
She is never taught to read. yet she is
not lacking in native intelligence and
ability.
Such is girlhocd in China; pathetic
in its dreary round of drudgery and in
the absence of all brightness and va
riety which make girl life with us SO
happy. Yet Chinese girls are often
bright, winning, attractive and affec-
tionate. There is no reason to believe
them to be naturally inferior in any OF
these qualities to their brothers. But
'.she can not be either evil or good"
is the senseless verdict, and SO she
lives her weary life victim to preju-
dice. superstition and cruelty.
The great event in the life of a Chi
nese girl is, of course, her marriage.
This generally occurs at the age of fif-
teen or sixteen. Sometimes even ear
lier Buteven in this crisis in her exist
ence her sad fate does not for a mo-
ment desert her.
She is married to man whom, the
oretically. at least. she has never seen.
Generally the arrangement of the mar.
riage is mere bargain and dicker be-
tween the parents, TO determine how
much the father of the girl shall give
in the way of furniture and outfit, and
how much the parents of the young
man are willing to spend for wedding
ornaments.
These arrangements being COM
pleted. On the day fixed she is placed
in the red bridal chair. Her head and
face are tied up in a bag so closely
that she can see nothing. and cases
are not rare in which she has died
from suffocation.
She is borne in the bridal chair,
preceded by band of music, to the
home of the groom. Her girl life
has ended. Her life as q woman has
begun.
In the majority of cases she has
only changed the place, not the
nature. of her life. She has ceased to
be the drudge under her fathers
roof only to become the slave of her
husbands mother Suicide is often
sought by young wives in China as
the only means of escape from the
tyranny of mothers-in-law. The hus-
band can have no affection for his
wife unless it may develop after
marriage. She has no rights the law
protects. She may be divorced by q
single scrap of paper written by her
husband and sealed with the impress
sion of his thumb in ink.
He never says my wife" with the
glad, proud tone common to Christian
lands. 1t is always The contemplate
female who presides in the kitchen"
Should she die childless he does not
mourn for her.
Il once remarked to a Minister of
the Chinese Government that as the