The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1913-01-29

missed turkey, cranberry sauce and
pumpkin pie; yet, looking at teh as
semblage Of spectators, we found sew
eral reasons for gratitude.
First by contrast, we were remind
ed of land where reasonable num-
Der Of children have clean hands and
faces, at least, part Of the time. AS
little missionary lassie said the
other day, Mamma, my nose needs
temptation (attention.) Uncle Sans
boys and girls generally know what is
desirable in personal appearance. But
heathenism's domestic conditions beg
gar description. Paganism and filth
are generally synonymous.
Second, we took out our pocket
edition Of the Stars and Stripes and
| were thankful it was the flag of un-
fettered feet and mind for woman
| hood. We saw Chinese mothers hob
bling up on pedal stubs to have a
"look-see'' at the foreign devils"
For many girls here, at the age OF
five or six, footbinding begins. 1t
produces great pain through two
years Then the feet become partial
ly dead. Often some of the toes drop
off. Shoes are from two to three
inches long. The mincing gait thus
secured is supposed to be passport
| to responsibility, but great numbers
of poor, ragged women gather brush
wood for a living and carry burdens
for miles as they stagger painfully by
reason of their deformity. They earn
about five cents (gold) per day.
Compulsory betrotha1 is another I'm
fathomed misery in China 1t is moth
ing uncommon for bride to alight
from the red chair in which she rides
but once in her life, and enter her
husbands home weeping. He has
probably never seen her face. She is
now counted as dead to her own fam
lily; and, often, the old home is cere-
monially cleansed as if corpse had
departed. A wife must be the slave
of her mother-in-law. She does not
eat with her husband, for she is con-
sidered vastly inferior to him. On
festive occasions the females of the
household do not appear, and it is
considered an insult to the man to
ask for them. A widow is to wear
mourning three years. If she COM
nit suicide as an expression of her
grief she is commended and may
have memorial tablet.
Wretchedness of womanhood is one
of the standard characteristics of
heathenism. An emphatic mark of
christianity is the dignity it brings
to the entire domestic circle. The
Old Testament portrays home be-
fore the Sabbath is set apart or the
church instituted. The scene is gar
den glorifed by the Divine Presence.
China's telegraph for the family abode
is roof with a pig under it, and the
ancient character is true to present
conditions. 1t is sober fact that
they keep the pig in the parlor." Mis-
sionaries, in their visitations, are
sometimes compelled to wait before
retiring till the dumb brutes are driv-
en- from the sleeping apartment.
Third, we were glad for country
in which the poor may rise to rule,
and where there is such recognition
of individual worth that pauper's
son is as good as princes son, if
he is as good. Christianity ennobles
and enriches labor We were looking
into the faces of men who gladly car
ry hundred pounds twenty-five miles
for twenty cents (golD and provide
their own keep"
i We passed on through towns and
villages with names meaning: Great
Righteousness, Regeneration, Eternal
Spring and Eternal Peace, for the
Chinese freely use heavenly titles for
lilly SOlNlllOuo. &Allu tiC Oos
was done We put up" at an inn,
the Happy Star" hotel, at the per
sonal cost of Is cents (gold for food
and lodging. The accommodations
were, perhaps, worth the price. In
such place good bishop once
prayed out loud: "Oh, Lord, don't let
me die here" and missionary sec
rotary said: Thank God, there is an
outside Another itinerant having
travelled all night arrived in time for
a companionship breakfast ere we
each took up our line of march.
Early on our way we came across
Buddhist open-air service. On a
temporary platform erected at a
threshing-fo three priests were sob
erly droning something interspersed
with blasts of rude horns. Crouching
on his knees behind these was a one
eyed old man who peeked out at the
standing audience with an expression
that was laugh provoking. On six
| rckety chairs as many dust covered