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THE DAUGHTERS OF CHINA.

THE

BY REV. J. W. WILEY, M. D.

HE immense empire of China presents for our study, and the exercise of our sympathies, from one hundred and fifty to two hundred millions of females, held in the degrading bondage of Oriental customs, and in the ignorance and superstition of idolatry. The moral and social position of these suffering millions is such as to waken in every pious and benevolent heart a desire to ameliorate their condition, and to elevate them to a higher and better state. Providence has unexpectedly thrown open to the Christian world, the long-closed gates of the heathen empire in which these oppressed daughters are found, and, through strange and even wonderful developments, appears to be calling loudly upon the lovers of the Savior and the friends of humanity, to turn their attontion and their labors to the Christianization of the vast people thus brought within the reach of their sympathies. The two hundred millions of oppressed females, found in the population of this empire, claim, by their situation, a large share of our Christian sympathy, and, by their interesting and promising character, a large share of our benevolent labors toward enlightenment and evangelization. Here, where the Gospel exerts none of its benign influences, the rights of women are truly invaded, and from being the equal and the companion of man, she is reduced to a mere instrument for his pleasure, or a faithful slave for his service. To all who are sincere and earnest advocates for "Woman's Rights," and are anxious for opportunities to exercise their benevolent feelings in lightening the burdens, and refining the character, and exalting the position of their oppressed sisters, we most heartily commend the vast field which is here opened to their philanthropic labors.

In China, as in other countries, the influence of woman is great, and is exerted in the family and in the state, in morals and in religion; but in that country, in the position which she occupies, that influence is only exercised for evil. We feel convinced that nothing can reach and break up the numerous and great evils of heathen life and society, but the transforming influence of our holy Christianity. This alone can destroy the idolatry which lies at the bottom of their degradation, and this only can teach to benighted man the true position which should be occupied by the helpmate that God has given him, and thus shake the very foundation of the oppressive system which degrades the daughters of the east. But the enlightening truths of the Bible must be taught

VOL. XV.-3

to the oppressed females, as well as to their unfeeling masters. We in vain attempt a reformation of society by directing our attention to the men alone. The future men and women of the nation are under the influence of the wives and mothers of to-day, and we are only vainly laboring to exhaust a stream that is fed by a neverfailing fountain, while we leave untouched this undercurrent of woman's influence. It is as necessary to teach the mothers as to enlighten the fathers, and the wives must be converted, or we can produce no permanent impression upon the minds and hearts of the husbands. We must reach the children, the future nation in embryo-but we must reach them through the family, in which presides the wife and mother.

But who shall teach the women of China? The missionary, who goes forth to preach the Gospel, can not gain access to the females of the land. The iron usages of eastern society forbid his entrance into the "inner apartments," where the mothers, and wives, and daughters are found, and custom does not allow the daughters of the land to mingle in public assemblies. The missionary looks in vain to find the female in his chapel, and but seldom is she found to stop and mingle with the crowd that gathers around him in the street or in the country. The boatwoman, and the burden-bearer, and the market-woman, whose avocations have somewhat freed them from the restraints of society, and in an equal degree rendered them less susceptible to good impressions, may occasionally delay for a moment to catch a passing word from the missionary; but the Chinese lady is to him always unapproachable. In no class of society is education given to females, and scarcely any are able to read at all the language of their own country; so that, while excluded by the usages of society from the direct labors of the missionary, they are also, by ignorance, shut out from receiving a knowledge of the truth through books. What, then, can be done for the daughters of China? Can nothing be done to give to them the blessings of the glorious Gospel, and to elevate them to the high and happy sphere secured to the gentler sex by the institutions of Christianity? They can be reached, and the blessings of the Gospel can be imparted to them; but it is only by the personal labors of their sisters, the daughters of England and America; and it is for these to say whether the Chinese female shall be elevated to the hopes and privileges of woman in Christian lands, or remain the unhappy victims of the despotic usages of the society in which they live. With the view of awakening a deeper interest in

behalf of these females of China in the hearts of the highly blessed daughters of America, and with the hope of inspiring in some hearts, at least, a spirit of consecration to the noble work that lies before them, we wish to give to them a better acquaintance with these daughters of the east.

In contemplating the women of China, they present themselves to us, as in our own country, in various grades of society, from the humble boatwoman and the noisy burden-bearer, to the modest and retiring wife of the wealthy merchant and the secluded but gaudy wives of the mandarins. She is found, degraded and ignorant, in her contracted home, on a little boat that lies moored by the river's bank, or plies to and fro on its broad bosom, gaining her livelihood by fishing, and rearing her children in want and ignorance. She is found, beneath the rays of a broiling sun, laboring in the fields, sowing, planting, and gathering, and bearing her products on her shoulders to market, her careless husband, in the mean time, often amusing himself with the children, or smoking his tobacco or opium at home, She is found thronging the streets, bearing heavy burdens, performing the most menial services, competing with rough, halfnaked men in feats of strength and labor, herself as boisterous and as masculine as they. She is found, in another grade of society, in the secluded retirement of her home, called by the name of wife, but used as her master's slave, having the duties of a miserable household to perform, with none of the rewards of love or gratitude. Still higher in life she is found as the tinseled and ornamented inmate of the "inner apartments," secluded from society, bearing the hollow title of wife, or filling the character of the purchased handmaid, free from degrading employments, but left to amuse herself as she can with music, embroidery, and dress, and always expected to amuse and gratify the wishes of her master, without dreaming she has a right to be considered his equal and companion, or expecting any return for her affection and kindness. She is found, too, in the wretched haunts of vice and infamy which abound upon the water and the land, the most miserable and degraded of her kind, because often her degradation is involuntary, and she occupies her wretched position because unfeeling or poverty-stricken parents have sold her to a monster.

As found in these various positions, her personal appearance and dress differ considerably. In the middle and lower ranks of society, the Chinese female possesses but few attractions.

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Her dress is always modest and seasonable, but not always clean and tasteful. Her naturally tawny complexion is made more dark and rough by exposure to the sun, and her consciousness of degradation and her conflicts with rough and boisterous men have made her bold and masculine. The laboring women of China have often been mistaken, by recent visitors, for men, and we have heard those who had but just arrived in China, remarking that they found no women in the streets, when, perhaps, a third of all they met were the tawny, toiling, noisy daughters of China. In all ranks of society the hair of the women of China is always beautiful; it is always black, glossy, and luxuriant, arranged with taste and beauty, adorned with flowers, or often put up in the shape of their favorite but fabulous birdthe Chinese phenix-a long fold of rich, dark hair, reaching out behind the head, representing the large tail of the bird, with two others extending from the sides of the head, representing its expanded wings, while another cluster gracefully bends over the forepart of the head, terminated by a light metallic appendage, representing the bird's bill, which rests upon the forehead. In scarcely any grade of society is this beautiful ornament of the head found disheveled or neglected.

Nor can the worst of usage, nor the deepest degradation, entirely crush out of the hearts of these humbler daughters of China all womanly feeling, and they are still found to possess some of the gentler affections, and capable of being reached and affected by kindness and sympathy. Some have been gathered, by the missionaries, from the lowest walks of society, and, after being introduced into their families, and made to realize-what is almost a new idea to them-that, after all, there are such things in the world as gentleness, kindness, and affection, the cords of womanly feeling have been touched in their hearts, and they have been awakened into a sort of new life, manifesting the kindness, the faithfulness, and the devotion which can probably never be entirely obliterated from woman's heart. Two or three instances of this kind are now vividly before my mind, and I remember, with the most grateful feelings, many instances of the affectionate kindness of one of these daughters of China.

"The Chinese lady, in the better classes," says Mrs. Bridgman, in her excellent little book, "The Daughters of China," "is not without attractions; she is generally bland and courteous in her manners; her toilet is often arranged with taste and beauty, though her decorations are usu

ally profuse and gaudy. Her dress is well adapted to the season. In the heat of summer, her attire is simply grass-cloth; as the weather becomes cool, this is exchanged for silk and other richly embroidered materials.

"The whole Chinese system of ethics requires females to be so secluded that their opportunities of intercourse with foreign ladies are few; when they do meet them, however, their address is singularly confiding and affectionate, and they enter into conversation with sprightliness and vivacity. But what do they talk about? Your age, the numbers of your children, your ornaments, the style of your dress, and your large feet. Examine the countenance of the Chinese; the features are regular, and, though there are peculiarities which mark the race, such as the obliquity of the eyes, flat nose, tawny skin, and, when uneducated, a certain inane expression common to both sexes; yet when the Chinese lady is favored with an interchange of sympathies with one of her own sex from another country, there is light in her eye and joy in her heart; it is not the flash of a bright and highly cultivated intellect; for, alas! she is not considered worth the pains, time, and money, of being taught to read; but the women of China have souls, and there are deep fountains there, sending out, as far as their situation admits, streams of maternal and sisterly affection; and there are fountains of evil, too, and the courses that issue from them are broad and deep. Ungovernable temper often spreads discord in the domestic circle, and the strong folds of idolatrous superstition bind her tender offspring by an oath of perpetual fidelity to the altars of false deities."

and the toiling daughter of the field, as well as the high and wealthy, will have a flower to adorn their heads, and nearly every little shop, as well as the rich store-room, will have some pots of green and flourishing plants. Chrysanthems, camellias, lilies, polianthes, magnolias, oleanders, azaleas, orange-flowers, and the blossoms of early spring, are universal favorites, and the magnificent lotus is looked upon with the profoundest admiration, if not, indeed, with idolatrous vencration. This is a pleasing, and, we think, a promising trait in the character of the Chinese female; we have hope in the heart, though it may be hardened by the folds of heathenism, in which there is a love for the beautiful, and particularly, for the softer and gentler beauties which God has made in the flowers.

The dress of the poorer females is usually made of grass-cloth or cotton, black among the laborers, and usually light blue, bordered with pink, among those of indoor occupations. Among the higher class, we find grass-cloth, silk, crape, etc., ornamented and embroidered. The dress is made tight about the throat, with large sleeves, sometimes exposing the hands and wrists, strung with bracelets made of shell, precious stones, gold, or silver. Underneath this outside dress or tunic is, among the wealthy, a richly embroidered skirt, extending nearly to the feet, from which appear below the embroidered pantalettes, nearly concealing the tiny feet which can not be dispensed with in the Chinese lady. When or how this cruel custom of compressing the feet originated, it is probably now impossible to determine; but at the present day it prevails throughout the empire, and is the mark of the Chinese lady, and Much attention is paid by the females of China indispensable to a suitable betrothal. Betrothal to dress, and their outward adornments are always takes place very early in life, and a little girl whose fully up to the measure of their pecuniary ability. feet are permitted to attain the usual size, would The dress, in all ranks of society, is strikingly not be chosen as the first or principal wife, and modest, concealing all parts of the person except could not be introduced into any of the higher the face. This, with the head, is usually left classes of society, except by being purchased as uncovered. No hats are worn by the ladies, as the second, third, or fourth wife of some mandathese would interfere with the beautiful arrange- rin or wealthy merchant, who would like her ment of their glossy hair, and their place is sup- handsome face to ornament his miniature harem. plied with flowers, both natural and artificial, Females who have been saved from the tortures tastefully set. Along with these, among the of this compression can thus only expect a life wealthy, may often be seen pearls and other rich of toil or degradation, and they find their homes and gaudy ornaments. An interesting element in upon the water, or in the fields, or as bearers of the Chinese character is their fondness for flowers, burdens in the close and filthy streets, or as the and in this their females largely participate. subordinate inmates of some rich man's "inner Every little boat that floats upon the water will apartments." For these reasons, the custom prehave at least one flower-pot, and as many more vails extensively in all parts of the country and as can be afforded; and every hut, however dark in all ranks of society-the poorest family strivand dismal it may be, will have something greening to secure the honor and the advantages of and beautiful about it. The poorest boatwoman having at least one small-footed lady. The

process of compression is usually commenced at about the fourth year of age, and is done by bandaging the feet closely with strong muslin rollers, and must be an extremely painful process, as the cries of the young sufferers during its first stages are every-where heard. It results in a miserable deformity of the feet, which renders them almost useless as organs of locomotion. The gentlemen of China appear to be very warm in their admiration of these little, deformed appendages of the ladies, speaking of them often in conversation, praising them in poetry, and contrasting them with the large feet of foreign ladies, which they suppose to detract greatly from what they are willing to acknowledge, the surpassing beauty of their faces and persons, and the elegance of their manners.

These "waving willows," as they poetically call them, may often be seen in the lower walks of life, tottering along in the street, supporting themselves by one or two sticks, or resting on the shoulder of a little boy or girl. They are rendered unfit for any laborious employment; but in poor families it is often necessary for them to do a large amount of outdoor as well as indoor labor, and they frequently display considerable ingenuity in devising ways and means to accomplish their object without the use of their feet. (TO BE CONTINUED.)

"OUR FREDDIE STILL."

BY MRS. E. T. EBERLEIN.

SHALL we not watch for him when morning breaks,
And when night's gloomy shadows pass away;
Will not his beauteous eyes and sunny face
Come with the day?

Shall we not see him at the hour of noon,

When his fond father from his work shall come,
Whom he was wont, with happy feet, to speed
To welcome home?

O, when the night comes stealing on, and folds
Her sable robes around the weary earth,
And when the cricket's chirping voice is heard
On the lone hearth-

Shall we not see him in the old arm-chair,
Watching, half fearfully, the shadows creep,
On the dim walls, or gently in our arms
Fold him to sleep?

He is not there-not there, nor any where
That mortals with frail footsteps e'er have trod;
For thou hast called the gentle spirit home
To thee, our God.

There, when our pilgrimage on earth is done,
And we have meekly borne thy righteous will,
May we not clasp him to our yearning hearts-
Our Freddie still?

THE FALLEN SOLDIER.

BY MRS. M. A. BIGELOW.

"My heart bled within me when I gazed on young H., where he lay in all the pale beauty of death. He was to have been married, the week following, to an accomplished lady; but such was his great zeal to serve his country, that he became a volunteer in our camp, and met his death the follow

ing morning. On opening his vest, we found a likeness of the beautiful Miss The back of the portrait was stained

with his blood."-LIFE OF MARION.

WHERE his country's banner sweeps,
On the field of war he sleeps,
With his eyelids, darkly fringed,
By the breath of cannon singed;
And you see the crimson blood,
Where the youthful hero stood.
Warrior! in the furious strife,
In the weary ebb of life,
What could solace thy young heart,
Making Death's a pointless dart?
Could thy love of country stay,
While thy life-stream ebbed away?
Soldier! here, what hast thou pressed
Closely to thy cold, still breast?
Tis a maiden's pledge of truth,
Beaming with the air of youth;
Smiling in the dreadful fray,
Where the dead and dying lay.

Often didst thou fondly gaze
On that sweetly pictured face;
Dreaming of a conquered peace,
When the gory fight should cease,
And thy happy country, free,
Should give back thy bride to thee.

But thy hopes are withered now;
Death has chilled thy noble brow;
And the maiden long shall wait,
Tearful and disconsolate;

For her warm heart followed thee,
Struggling here for liberty.

Long that maiden dreamed of bliss-
Dreamed of coming happiness;
But her hopes are lost in night;
Thou hast fallen in the fight,
And thy garments, soiled and torn,
Stiff with clotted gore are grown.
Where the dewy morning weeps,
There the maiden's lover sleeps,
There is sinking to decay,
There may be the vulture's prey;
But he did not die unblest,
With that image on his breast.

WHITE as a white sail on a dusky sea,
When half the horizon's clouded and half free,
Fluttering between the dun wave and the sky,
Is Hope's last gleam in man's extremity.

THOUGHTS ON DEATH AND LIFE. symphonies that break upon your ear in dreams

BY REV. A. D. FIELD.

"There, when the turmoil is no more,

And all our powers decay,

Our cold remains in solitude

Shall sleep the years away.
Yet not thus buried or extinct

The vital spark shall lie,

Far o'er life's wreck that spark shall rise,
To seek its kindred sky.

These ashes, too, this little dust

Our Father's care shall keep

Till the last trumpet sound, and break

The long and dreary sleep."-H. K. WHITE.

of the night-time are notes swelling out from the harps of the redeemed ones, among whom your little one tunes a harp before the throne of the Lamb. Yes; the little Roscoes, and Myras, and Henrys, and Marys, that are lost from the home circles, are to-day sweeping each a harp in the blessed land. "Of such is the kingdom of heaven."

"Not lost; but heaven has one angel more;

Not lost; but gone before?"

READER, shrink not away because I have you do not destroy the

named to you a doleful subject; for perchance even out of this there may come sweetness for thee.

Why is it we start back so much appalled when we look into the grave? Too much of our fear comes from a wrong view of the matter. We are too apt to look upon Death as the great destroyer, and to shrink from his presence as from a foe. But Death is not a destroyer; death is not an extinguishment. The grave does not swallow up all there is of the loved ones. No! death is only a departure; and as the immortal spirit takes its flight, the clay habitation falls back to earth. The player, behind the scenes, dresses and paints for the coming acting; when the curtain rises, he enters into the scenes for which he has been preparing. Life is the fitting time, and death is only the hoisting of the curtain that lets us on the stage to act in the eternal scenes forever. The cold sweating of death is only, as it were, the cold drippings of the waters of Jordan, as we pass over to the promised land.

Look ye at yonder ship, as she comes, like a distant bird, over the waters. She heaves in sight; she comes up; she passes by; she goes beyond the horizon, and disappears from our view. But is she lost? When she went out of sight, did she sink overwhelmed in the waves? No, no. She has only gone on to her destined port. Thus the dear child comes into the family circle. For awhile its prattle is heard; for awhile its beaming face greets the delighted household-and then it disappears; it goes away from the sight. No more-ah! no more-shall it be there! But is it annihilated? Is it laid away, perished forever, in an eternal sleep? No! Parent, weeping over the tomb with anguish, no! Like the disappearing ship, it has only gone on to its heavenly destination. You saw it for awhile; but it could not tarry; the angels have taken it away. And, perchance, those heavenly

To be sure, there is a seeming death of the
body; but is the body the person? Cut off my
limbs-ay, flay the flesh from my bones-and
You have only been
hewing down my habitation. I, the immortal—I
still live. You bury my arm; it is not me. You
bury my whole body; it is not me. The laying of
my body in the grave is only burying all my body,
instead of a limb; I still live on.
Let a driving
wind blow down the house in which I live, and
it leaves me still living. To be sure, the place
of my habitation is crumbled to pieces; but yet I
am alive, though miles away. So when we lay
the bodies of the loved ones of the heart in the
grave, it is only laying away the clay tenement
now no longer habited; the loved one is gone
away, and lives on in better than earthly man-
sions.

"Then weep not for Mary,
Though she is no more,
Her voice is now mingling
With saints on the shore.
O, weep not for Myra;

For near the bright throne,
She sweepeth the harp-strings
That now are her own.
O, weep not for Bessie;

Though laid in the tomb,
She liveth in glory,

And beckons thee home."

But though, when we think of the gone ones, we think of them as in heaven, yet the heart often turns to the grave. There is a love that lingers around the tomb, though we look upon the loved ones as gone to mansions of light. We cling, with fond regret, to the dear relics that lie crumbling to dust in the ground. While we look to heaven, we love to do so from the graves of the dead. This is not a feeling that needs to be smothered. Well may the heart of a fond mourner weep over the grave.

When we leave olden homes and go to new lands, we love to think of all that is past. When we revisit the old places, how dear are the houses where we have lived!-how dear the old school grounds where we have spent our youth! Above

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