Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-10-13

want on each side of her to uphold her
arms. They carried her in fact. to the
chair, and when she sat down her little
feet. so small that you could have not more
than covered a silver dollar. with one of
them, fust rested on the floor. She wore
red satin slippers embroidered with pearls.
and her rich satin clothing fur lined
There were pearls in her ears and her head
dress was decorated with diamonds.
Small Feet as Reau Catchers.
I have asked many Chinese why foot
binding has such a hold upon the people
and have been always answered that it is
because it is the fashion. The men are the
cause of it. A small foot is considered
beautiful and a large foot the sign of
servant or plebeian. Husbands do not want
wives with large feet. and the girl whose
foot has not been compressed has little
chance of making good match.
/ told that the Chinese mobiles will
have nothing to do with igfooted women,
and thu: even those who make addresses in
favor of aHti-foot binding are insincere
Consul General Goodnow gave instance
of this the other day when chatting with
me about the tautOi of Shanghai. He said:
II had heard the tautoi make a speech in
favor Of anti-foot binding at n meeting of
the foreign ladies. In discussing the sub
ject he spoke of them as benefactOrs of
China and Landed them to the skies. A
day so after this | met him at his palace.
we had glass Of wine together and the
tautoi grew quite louuaciOus. I compli-
mcnted him on his address and said that
/ supposed if he took another wife he
would choose a woman with big feet
" no, he replied. 1 certainly would not.
But why nOt% said our consul general
You say that small feet are an outrage
II don't know that I said that said the
tautoi. But at any rate they are In fashion
here and ! would not have a big-fOOted
woman To tell the truth, | really don't
think much Of your women coming over
here and making a fuss about our fashions
Why don't you correct your own evils?
Take the matter of corsets. II is far worse
10 compress the vital organs than to COM
press the feet Your women lace them
selves To death. / hope that shall
be able to go to America some day as
a missionary. If ever l do I shall organize
an anti-cOrset society there
The Dreadful Mother-in-LnSv.
The Chinese mother-in-law is the worst
Of her kind and when her sons wife
Is a foreigner she often becomes
demon The close Of this war Will in
augurate a new regime for China There
will be openings for foreigners in hundreds
of ways. Tha probability is that some Of
our soldiers Will stay here, and some may
bring their families to settle in the celestial
empire. The new Chinaman viii become
more popular abroad after a time, and
there Will be temptation now and then
for an American girl 10 marry Chinese
and 60 home with him. The fate of the
/
extreme She viii be treated here as the
slave Of her Chinese mother-in-law and will
be subject 10 All kinds of ndignities.
A number Of the missionaries and foreign
merchants out here have asked me to warn
American girls to have nothing to do with
Chinese lovers and TO say 10 those who
have married Chinese that they had better
remain in the United States. There have
been numerous instances in which such
wives have found in China d fate equal to
death or worse
A missionary Who Married Her Cook.
While | was at Canton a few weeks ago 1
found the foreign settlement there much
stirred up because one of the medical mis-
sionaries a female doctor, had married her
Chinese cook. The woman was about thir-
! ty-fve and the cook not more than twenty
/ three. She had fallen in love with him.
and had taken him into her Office where
she was fixing the medicines. When she
/ told her friends that she proposed TO
/ marry him they protested. but she prob
| ably thought a Chinese husband better
than no husband, and persisted in her
/ determination. Before the war broke
! out she was living at Canton, but
| whether she IS there now or not | can
marriage. Her husband will undoubtedly
/ take an extra wife sooner or later and she
| VIII probably have the place OF a servant.
/ This is Just the situation Of an American
the United States and came home with
| him. Soon after he arrived his father and
| mother picked out a second wife for him.
and he married her The Chinese wife be-
was subs tanuialiy a slave. She was too
! ashamed TO complain or run away, and in
/ two years she died
| The Two Wives of "a Chinese General.
Just one more instance. one which relates