The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-01-16
LAMESTABLK MEsALLIANCEs.

Miss May Foster, a teacher in the Chinese
mission school az Los Angeles, has entered
into a marriage by contract with one Of her
Monaghan pupils. Without saving that
Miss Foster had not right to enter upon
this marriage, however repelant such an
alliance may seem to the average mind not
in love with any representative Of oGT CHI
nese residents, it is safe to predict that the
young woman viii yet live to bitterly repent
her rash act She is described as a band
some, talented and accomplished young
lady How much OfithS description may be
set down TO reDortorial exaggeratiOn we
cannot say, bat if she is even fairly edU-
Gated snd decenty trained American woman,
whether She is beautiful and accomplished
or not the probabilities are she has made
sorry failure Of the most important step in
w0man's life.
1t is not merely marriages between white
women and Cinnamon that are apt to result
d>astrUusly. As a general thing it may be
said tina, all matches between races Of diff
ferent color and radically different training
and antecedents are fated TO turn out
Wretchedly. The white woman who mar
ries a negro usually lives to repent it. She
who takes husband from among the In
dams generally suffers on account Of her
choice. The latest illustration of this fact
is tie report that Mrs. Chaska, once Miss
Cora Fellows, who three years ago married
Chasks, an educated man but a full-blooded
Indian chief. Is about to bring suit for
divorce against her brave on the grounds Of
iuddelty, cruelty aud drunkenness.
Miss Foster, the Los Angeles young
woman, doubtless sees, or fancies she sees,
something attractive in her yellOw-skinned
husband. Il Ling. but il is to be questioned
whether this attraction will not soon wear
of and reveal the object Of her present in
fatuat.0u as an Uutlandish heather, with all
Of his cguntrymen's barbar0us iHhsUitauces
and ante edents. When Mrs Ii Ling
comes thus TO realize the nature Of the
choice she has male it is doubtful whether
her affection for the companion Of her
choice viii stand the strain Of the reyela-
ton. il does not necessarily follow that
because Ii Ling IS a CHluaman he IS a bad
man. On the contrary. he may be a good
Chinaman. whom Chinese bride might find
all that is desirable in q husband, but the
early training. habits of thought and entire
/ trend Of mind of q Cbinaman are radically
/ different from all that an American girl can
/ ever have been accustomed to, and are such
/ as could hardly fail to make her unhappy.
/ When the first attraction Of novelty shall
! have worn of with Ii Ling, Chinese pTeju-
/ dIces, Chinese traditions, Chinese beliefs
/ aud customs will inevitably assert them
! selves, and there is ne reason TO suppose
that Mrs. Ii Ling win find her fate any diff
ferent from that Of many Of her sisters who
have stopped TO similar folly. What this
fate has generally been the records Of such
marriages show. They have not been fire.
/ quent. and the records do not extend oyeI
many years. but they are very sad. Women
/ who have married Cinnamon are not only
! cut of from association with their own peo-
! pie, but are sure 10 fad the people with
/ whom they have cast in their lot as repul-
/ sive TO them as they had fancied the man Of
/ their choice attractive. She is q strong
/ woman, indeed, who is not dragged down
! by the inevitable surroundings OF Chinese
/ life in this country. Ia point OF fact The
/ records show that many OF them do 60 down
/ to tie depths Of infamy and disgrace
/ Others lead lives Of untold suffering and
/ SORROW. and others, still. retreatng through
/ the divorce court from the hard path they
! chose, spend the balance Of their lives with
/ sorroWful hearts and blightea prospects.
Without laying any Of the stress that
/ might be laid on the adherence with which
| the average civilized mind regards such
marriages, from a standpoint Of policy they
must almost Of necessity result unhappily.
/ Such alien natures can rarely aSsimllatc
and the woman who makes such match
not only sowS crop Of sorrow for herself,
but Of suffering for the possible offspring of
such a union. who are necessarily handi-
capped at the beginning of life by the
anomalous position in which they are placed
by their mothers fOlly