The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1915-05-06

| sAiAS sAS OAAuoiAoA ASOPS AAe OuAuAuS All
the time in the oven, and the heat from
the hot earth not only keeps the room warm
during the day, but also keeps the room
warm at night. In the summer the cooking
is done out of doors, and in the winter it is
done in the house over charcoal fire.
1t has often been said that a Chinaman
in this country could live on fifteen cents a
day. If that is so, there is a good reason.
In his own country he has to live on much
less, and the first lesson he learns in life is
to economic. The daily food of the Chin
csc working class consists for the most part
of rice and millet, and the kind of grains
that grow along the edge of the rice paddles,
and on special occasions little pork or
poultry. After the food is cooked it is plac-
ed on top of the oven, and the members of
the family squat around the pots to eat,
sometimes they use chop-sticks, and other
times their fingers. He knows nothing
about the finer etiquette of the civilized
world, and cares less.
There are two great events in a China
mans life. The day he is married, and the
day he dies. A Chinaman from early child
hood is taught that one of the greatest
duties he owes to the W orld, is to marry
and raise family. AS soon as he is old
enough, his parents start looking for suit
able wife for him, he is never consulted a.
to who he is to marry, as all the courtshir
is carried on between his parents and the
parents of the girl. 1t is seldom a young
man sees the face of his future wife until sht
raises her head at the end of the ceremony
that makes them man and wife.
Directly after the ceremony the husband
takes his bride to her future home, and
prison. She has been taught from birth,
that he is her lord and master, and his word
is to be her law. If, by any chance, they
are ILL., mated, she takes his abuse as matter
of fact until death relieves her.
When female child is born to a Chinese
couple, at her birth, she is placed in the
hands of one of the older woman. The
first test of this world she has to endure i:
to have her tiny feet bandaged. These
bandages are not removed until she ha.
stopped growing, hence; her small odd
shaped feet. l cannot describe the pain
and misery she must 60 thru during the
time of her growth, and can only imagine
just about what it is like. Her education
is not much, as educations 60. She is
taught to paint, and do fancy needle work,
and cook, and is never permitted to play
with other children of the neighborhood,
and must at all times show her respect of
the male part of the family by her silence,
unless directly spoken to-.
We leave the walled city with its poverty
and dirt, and once more go out into the
open. We are now at rice farm. Here
are rice fields, around each one is built a
mud wall some two feet high, inside this
Enclosure is water six or eight inches deep:
there barefooted men, with their trousers
rolled up to their knees, pull weeds from
among the rice. They hardly look up
from their work as we pass, for in doing so,
they are liable to be locked or fined by
their employer. They work from fourteen
to eighteen hours day, and their daily
wage is about eleven cents in our money.
Here we come to couple of men saving
boards from log. They have the log
raised on two high trestles, one man is or
top the log, and the other is underneath it.
They use big buck-saw. the top man i.
called the sawyer, and he is responsible fol-
the kind and amount of work done in day
For his work he receives fourteen cents
day. If one of the men should have thu
misfortune to loose or break tool, the EN-
ployer takes the price of it from his wages
should he change his position before the &C
count is settled, his former employer cal
have him imprisoned, or he can send tn,
bill to the mans next employer, who will
deduct it from the laborer's earnings.
do not believe there is another peopl
on earth more conscientious in regard t.
their honor-as they see it-than tn
Chinese. Once Chinaman gives his wore
or promise, he never breaks it. 1 speak o
course, of the average Chinaman. He con
siders it his sacred duty to carry out to tn
very letter any promise or contract, eithe
written or verbal, that he makes, often t.
his own inconvenience. A Chinaman i
never at any time demonstrative. He take
life as it comes, and mixes the good will
the bad, and is, to certain extent, conten
ted. His friendship is one of his mos
valuable possessions, and when he gives it
it is given intellectually. There is moth
ing too good for his friends, and nothing
too hard for him to do for them at any time
or place; his door is always open to hi.
e. IL I'll