Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1897-04-14
A CHINESE REFORM.
Beginning of a Movement to Abol-
ish Foot Binding.
Horrors of an Inhunan
Thai Has Been Prevalent In
China for Centuries
The Reformer.

The nineteenth century craze for the
emancipation Of women has at last
found it's way into the darkness OF
China, and a reformation a been
started of vastly more Importance TO
the woman of the Flowery Kingdom
than the bloomer question and other
like problems which have been vexing
her progressive sisters of the western
world.
This new departure calls fol the abo-
lition of foot-binding, common among
all classes of Chinese women, from the
POOR creatures shaving in the rice
fields to the dainty bellies whose
fathers hold lucrative public Offices
Everything moves with tremendous
slowness in China, particularly innova-
tons, and the reformers expect that 1T
will take a century or more to make the
change complete.
The practice has existed for 20 CEN
turtles and may have existed for 40 CEN
turtles. and naturally it will be a diff
cult matter to root out. The greatest
problem to be overcome is the aversion
of Chinese men to marry women whose
feet are not squeezed into deformed OBJ
JttN> wearing ililit VI Nv
10 the natural human foot.
As the one ambition of the Chinese
girl and of her parents is to marry they
willingly undergo the fortunes of foot
binding to realize the matrimonial
state. A woman whose foot is any
where near the size nature intended is
an outcaSt so far ms matrimony is con-
cerned. The men deem it a disgrace to
marry her. and an unmarried woman is
n burden to herself and her relatives.
With these conditions to face the re-
formers are counting upon a hard time
of it.
The binding process is the acme of
torture. as the pain is ~incessant and eX-
tends over a period of many years. The
little Chinese girl usually enjoys the
full freedom of her feet until she is four
or five years old. She can run about like
other children and can rest h full
weight of her body upon her feet with
out suffering exquisite torture.
But all this is soon stopped. for it is a
custom. sanctioned by centuries, that a
wuman's feet must not be more than
three inches in length BY the time n
girl is four OF five years old her feet are
already more than three inches long.
end then comes the torture.
Narrow strips of silk nine or ten feet
long are used by the fond parent to
crush the further growth. The silk is
drawn tightly over the instep and then
| carried over the four small toes and the
heel. The toes are drawn under the
foot and the pressure is so great that
the sole is almost drawn into a semi
circle.
The large toe is particularly difficult
to subdue, and separate bands of the
| silk are drawn over the member and
| carried under the heel, squeezing it
| down with double pressure. Unyield-
| ing shoes, made ironlike in strength,
are crowded upon the feet, and the
happy days of the little girl are over.
The shoes are removed ut night, but
h bandages remain night and day.
For the first few months the child is
| unable to move about except. upon her
hands and knees. The circulation of
the blood in the feet has been choked
and the pressure of the body and the
| exercise of walking force h blood
through the strangled veins. causing
the most intense gony. This pain is
nothing, however, to that suffered when
it is necessary to change the bandages
every fortnight for fresh ones. The
sudden loosening of the bands allows
| the blood to shoot into the benumbed
end deadened feet, and the pain is often
times so exquisite that the child faints
away.
Even the girls who in later life must
| perform the hardest kind of manual
labor have their feet crippled. The
| spectacle of women working in the
| fields on their hands and knees, be-
cause their deformed feet are unable to
support the weight of the body, has no
effect on parents of other children. And
| the workers themselves bind the feet of
| their girls without the slightest twinge
CT conscience.
The leader of the reform movement is
a highly educated native of the city of
Sniff, the chief town of the province
of Szechuan, one of the richest districts
of the empire. For many years he has
been employed in an official position in
Picking. and on his return home he found
his five-year-old daughter hobbling
about on crippled feet and crying from
the pain. lie at ouce removed the band
ages and declared that he would never
consent to such torture of his children
or the children of his dependents.
This was the first of the reform
movement. lie called upon the richest
and most influential men in the city and
the province, and succeeded i'm inducing
many of them to sign a pledge calling
for the abolition of the fo~ot-binding
process. Each signer agreed to stop it
in his own family and among his de-
pendents.
Royalty has not yet expressed its
opinion on the subject, but it is he
lieved that the old dowager empress. a
far-seeing woman will use her infiu-
ence in favor of the reform.-Chicagu
Tribune.
just n Swap. Maybe.