The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-04-20


sweetheart, and when he seeks a
wife he sends for e stranger. So to
speak they do their loving after mar
riage.
The Chinese woman in America
lives generally on the top floor of her
husbands dwelling, his business be-
ing on the ground floor. He is an ex-
ceedingly good husband, and secures
for her comfort all that her little mind
! can wish for. Her apartments are
very tidy, clean and neat, and are fur
nished with American goods in the
American style, with the exception Of
a few rugs and ornaments on the tables
and walls. In the center of another
room can be seen her incense vase, an
ancestral table, kneeling stool, a
pair of candle sticks and her private
chapel. She will show you all her
pretty ornaments, her jewelry and fine
clothing, admire yours, and even say
it is prettier than her own, will show
you her chapel. but will notinvite you
to enter it. There she will pray that
her husband will prosper in business;
that she will always be happy; that
her husband may be kind, and that she
may live to die in her native land.
She seldom goes out, and does not
receive visitors until she has been
wife for at least two years. Even
then, if she has no children. she is
supposed to hide herself: but after one
is born she begins to wander about,
and is then the hostess of many
cousins and friends who drop in occa-
sionally to see the family" Now
and then the women visit one another
and when they come together such
clatter is heard that one would readily
think two American women had met,
after enduring such fate as not see
ing each other for twenty-four hours.
They laugh at the slightest remark
and scream when joke is made.
They examine each others dress,
hair hats and feet. talk about their
husbands, their babies, about the
house and about the food, and finally
depart by curiously shaking their own
hands in each others faces.
They are very modest, and if it be.
comes their duty to pass room occu-
pied by men they do SO in hurry
with their faces hidden, not because
they are shy, but because it is the Gus
tom of their country. Despite the
fact that she does not read much or
frequent places of amusement, the
Chinese woman does not allow time to
drag on her hands while in this coun-
try. There are many beautiful
thoughts in her mind, and she gives
expression to them in the many dain-
ty little pieces Of lace and embroidery
she knits from time to time. These
are not wasteful in her eyes, for she
uses them as tokens of love and
friendship to the many friends and
relatives she left in China when she
became an American bride. She is a
great lover Of flowers, both natural
and artificial, and if not supplied with
the former makes herself great guam
titles of the latter, which she displays
with considerable taste in her hair and
on her dress.
She is very tidy, indeed, with her
person, as well as with her house, and
takes as long to make her toilet as
does the average American woman. 1t
is her hair that bothers her more than
anything else, and it will take her
half her time to prepare this. She
puts it fat at the back and decorates
it elaborately with flowers and fans.
Her tresses are very neat, and if
dressed becomingly would be consid-
cred attractive, but the manner in
which she plasters them back from her
high forehead would spoil the pretti
est face. While it is true that some
are very pleasant to behold, with their
little, soft faces, oval eyes, small
round mouths and raven hair, the or
dinary Chinese woman does not strike
the casual observer as lovely. She is,
however, always odd and interesting.
Like al women she is vain, but her
vanity cannot be compared with that
Of the average American woman. The
Chinese woman paints and powders,
ornaments herself with jewelry, wears
rings on her fingers and bracelets on
her arms, but that egotistical air that
is so apparent in the American girl
does not appear. She is. like her
American sister, interested in all mat
ters pertaining to dress, and if an