Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1895-07-10

| found It's merchant class polite, patient,
extremely shrewd, Eell-dressed, pattern
shopkeepers. We found its gentlemen
graceful, polished, generous, and amiable.
But the peasantry constantly reminded
us of the country folk of continental Eu
rope outside of Russia. Theirs was the
same simplicity of costume; intelligence,
and manners. They lived in very much
the same little villagers of thatched cot
tages. Theirs was the same awkwardness,
shyness, cunning in trade, the same dis
trust of strangers and of strange things.
The sharpest fracture of the comparison
was seen in the Chinese farms; for, where
we we're, every handful of earth was al
most literally passed through the hands
of its culiivators, every leaf was inspected,
every inch was watered, manured, watch
ed, and cared for as retired Englishman
looks after his back garden. The result
was fertility beyond compare, a glory
of vegetation, universally Of cullva>
ton that permitted no waste places. 1t
was system that always included the
preparation of second growth to be
transplated into the place Of the main
growth when the first reached its harvest.
As compared with japan, one feature OF
every view was strikingly in favor of the
larger country. The dress and behavior
of the Chinese will not offend Europeans.
The women of central China are not
merely modest, they are as completely
dressed as any woman | have ever seen.
They are covered from neck to heels in a
costume composed of a jacket and trou-
sers. As Mr.. Weldon says "Ther com
pete freedom of movement is calculated
to produce the most perfect nation, physi-
cally. 1t is Gods providence that this
menace to the safety Of the world is offset
by their innutritious food and their fond
ness for the cr,ppliug of women's feet"
In Japan nakedness is what stariles the
newcomer on all sides. In China "lhe al
together" that Trilby posed for is pro-
duct saw only in the case Of less than
half dozen children. am told that in
the country one sees women half barred
above the waist when the sun shines trop-
ically, but | cannot prove that. saw
one farmer girl with only her padlike
frontlet of cotton on above her trousers,
but | cannot denounce national costume
upon that slender basis. On the other
hand, | saw the women at every sort Of
labor, squatted down upon the rivers
edge, climbing like boys, wrestling, frol-
licking, rowing boats with their feet, wad-
ing streams, yet never having occasion to
regard that jealous modesty which is safe
guarded in their dress and in their souls
from infancy onward. l never-except
in two instances among thousands-raised
my eyes to have them meet those Of
woman that she did not cast hers down,
or turn and run indoors as fast as her
golden lilies goats feet, Weldon calls
them-would carry her. Even in the
night resorts of the gentlemen, where the
bejeweled singsong girls ply their service
of song and attendance during the formal
dinners of men of means, never saw the
suggestion of improper behavior on the
mems or the women's parts. To be sure
these women made bold to rub their
hands softly against my hair (where l
keep what | have, in the back to see how
our shorn hair feels. And they fingered
my collars and cuffs, and gently touched
my planklike shirt front, and giggled just
as little children do under the similar cir
cumstances at home. So like little chill
dren were they that | could not bear to
think them different in any respect
there in that garden where baby girls only
fetched dollar in the market, until the
price rose recently, in Shanghai, because
of the employment of girls in the silk
flature factory. Boys are different, of
course. Just as | was leaving China an
old man who wanted to adopt a son pick
ed out likely shaver of four years old
and set his heart on having him. The
fool of mother did not see the true price
the old man offered was a comfortable
home and the beirdom of his property
She only saw how much the old man
wanted her boy. She would not sell him
for less than eighty dollars. Therefore
the prudent old fellow was obliged to
stife his budding affection and look for
cheaper child He got chubby little
urchin for sixty dollars, which was his
limit.-Julian Ralph in HarPer's Naga-
zine.