South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-09-29
Why China's
Women Should
Be Ardent
Suffragists
PluralMarriages, Domestic
Slavery, the Shaving of In
fant Girls and Other Evils
Which Might Be Abolished
It Chinese Women Could
Gain Their Rights.
BY Edith Blake,
Distinguishes Traveller and Writer.

It..
ter be even guilty of using abusive language
to parents or paternal grandparents, and should
the parents make complaint to a magistrate
that they themselves heard such language. the
delinquent is liable to death by strangulation;
In the matter of marriage, girls are not given
much choice in the selection Of the future hue
band. bat neither has the man the choice OF
his bride. AS is often the case in Ireland. mar
riages are made by matchmaker, not by
heaven.
So long as her parentsinlaw live the sons
wife is subordinate to them; even In England
motherinlaw is not always regarded with
favor, and as Chinese women are as human
in their feelings and tempers as are those OF
other races, even the rigidity OF Celestial eti-
Quette does not invariably suffice to insure
agreeable relations between a mother-in-lsv
and her sons wife.
There is only one Legal wife IN China; she
is the Kit-fat. and she alone is carried to the
bridegroom's house in the red sedan chair.
The necessities of ancestral worship, however,
have led to the habit-usual, but not universal
of the existence OF one or more secondary
wives or concubines, whose presence does not
always increase the harmony of the household.
and Importance attaches to the family, but as
she has been selected to fill the position with
out the husband having had much voice in the
matter, should she not meet with his approval
he generally consoles himself by taking a SEQ
ondary wife chosen by himself The KitfAt
may be legally divorced ON seven accounts: II
she has no children; if she proves immoral:
dsobedient to her husbands parents; overtalk-
alive; given to thieving; If she Is jealous; or
afflicted with ieprosy
This sounds very comprehensive series Of
reasons; yet in point of fact none Of them can
be urged If the wife has observed mourning
during three years for her husbands parents;
If the family has become wealthy, having been
poor when she married; or if her parents are
dead so that she cannot return TO them; so 1t n
easier and pleasanter to take a secondary win
than to get rid OF a first one, and divorces Gfs
consequently more rare than elsewhere
Little girls brought up TO look forward
to marriage their goal in life; but when the
desired end is about to be attained etiquette
prescribes that the bTde-elcct must weep or
pretend to do so for three days previous TO the
wedding so as to display fitting regret at leaV-
ing the paternal roof. A broom is the emblem
of her new duties as wife; the day after the
wedding the bride takes a broom-in wealthy
families symbolically, In poor actually
and sweeps the house.
The women have great tenacity OF PURPOSE
and do not finch from death when a sense OF
duty makes them resolve on committing sui
eide 1t is regarded as meritOrious in a widow
to die with her husband, and the custom of
widows so immolating themselves still exisss
Such a ceremony took place in 1861 at Arnoy
with much pomp. The widow, who was only
twenty-five years Of age, had no children or
parents, so resolved on following her husband
to the spirit land
A few days before the one on which she had
appointed to die she was carried round the
town in a wedding chair, not closed as at an
actual wedding, but open, so that all might
her she passed. She invited the people
to come TO see her make her exit from this life
She accompanied by a procession such az
is seen at weddings. On the day fixed for her
death, attired in richly embroidered wedding
garments OF red silk. with gilt coronet such
as is worn by brides, and seated in the sana
chair, the young woman was carried to the
scaffold.
There she got out Of the chair. and without
displaying any emotion, calmly sat down and
partOok Of refreshment prepared on a lower
platform Of the scaffOld. When the meal was
finished she addressed the surrounding crowd
and, taking some handfUls OF knocked rice
from a bowl which stood on the table, she
scattered it among the people, who eagerly
scrambled 70 secure a few grains sancthed By
her blessing She then asCended TO the upper
scaffold, with her own hands passed the moose
around her neck, and in few moments all wa
over.
Kidnapping little girls to sell as slaves ID q
regular trade In China, where domestic slav-
cry exists, though those who steal the children
are liable to severe punishment II detected.
Once the children are smuggied away from the
neighborhood OF their homes it Is difficult TO
bring the crime home TO its perpetrators. The
lot OF many Of the unfortunate little girls so
carried OF is frequently as sad as that OF the
victims OF the white slave" traffic OF Europa
Little girls are often dressed as boys to obvf-
ale the danger OF their being abducted by Kid
nappers: whereas small boys are sometimes
clothed in feminine garments with the object Of
preventing interference with the childs soul
BIZ malignant spirits.
The custom OF exposing or destroying infant
girls is often quoted proving the indifer.
ence TO female life in China. II is true the
nractise IS common amcug the very poor, who
cannot afford 10 furnish the necessary dowry
should their daughters grow up and marry. The
law that married daughters are not calico upon
TO contribute to the support Of their own par
ents. but must do so for their parents-in-aw,
is largely accountable for the custom OF girl
lnfanticide which is seldom resorted 10 b. those
who are better OF