My body, hair and skin were received from my patents. As my body came to me complete, so it shall return complete. I dare not injure or destroy it.
Giudly I enter the Tien Tsu Hui.
I wish to be free from the pain of a life-time Taise promise to do my best to persuade my relations and neighbours, all of them, as virtuous women to preserve the entire body from mutilation, Month Day We had intended to collect statistics of the numbers of our Chinese members who had signed this card, but that we have been obliged to postpone to a more propitious season. You will, I am sure, join with me in hoping that that propitious seaton will not be long deferred, and that thy gloom of 1900 will be only the darkness that comes before the dawn.
Mrs. Buchanan moved the adoption of the report. The motion was seconded by Mrs, Rich and carried.
Mrs. Little remarked that the report presented by Mrs. White-Cooper was full of interest. They had been unable to do much work Inst year after June, when they were stopped. It wust be remember. ed however the Society never worked during the hot weather months of the year—July, August, and September. She would now call on Miss Laura White to' give her report. of the work done last year in Chinkiang.
Laura White said: The subject of Essays held last May seamed so a Wayfaring man need not to avo mistaken the instructions. Which is preferable, natural or bound feet, and Why? Competitors to be limited to one thousand words and each man to write but one essay." ' Why then," I_ complained to my teacher, Do some of ti i 3,000 words?" "They think it shows roat ability to write many characters with imited material," was the reply. And why dows this Siu Tsai dilute his four or five poor little thoughtlets into 16 essays taking over 16,000 words?" "That's like aiming 16' different shots ata wild fowl. Who knows which attempt may bring the bird down?" Then there were many who did not deign to aim at the target. 'These wrote elegant, satiny compositions in Wen-li, falling on the Chinese ear in delightful' cadencos—inelliflaent Songs without Meaning but containing as much logical argument as a Hungarian Rhapsody for instance. Of the 230 essays, some few were Apologies the custom's favour, "Bound feet are so beautiful. Comparo the masculine swagger of large-footed woman with the graceful swaying golden lilies. Bound feet assist women to do their duty, which is to stay home, and not to gad about in their neighbours' houses. Bound feet help virtue and conduct. Out of doors sre countless temptations to eye and ear. The women who stay at hom never know about these, and so retain their innocency. Bound feet are distinctly conducive to health and longevity. See how many more old women than old men there are in China! This is because women do not have to work hard. Moreover the Shut In's do not see and grieve over the unobtainable, so they are not envious, but have hearts at rest which is very healthful indeed for women." Some object that bound feet interfere with women's work, but, helped and cherished by her husband, her duties are not arduoue—only housekeeping, cooking, raising children, sewing, spinning, and monding her husband's clothes.
All these duties can be performed by small-footed women. Others complain of the pain involved; but suffering is neces sai for the proper development of woman's character. One who has not eaten this bitterness is likely to be opinionated, and to want her own way. She will argue and quarrel with her husband, and the two will oppose each other like a pair of strong, hands, each coming against the other, causing smacks and crashes. On the contrary, a bound-footed woman will receive correction and is submissive and obedient to her husband. Confucius sa} that women should be weak and men strong. This is the proper order. And 0 our apologist reinforces his arguments
classic that won't work both ways. The next by appeals to the classes. But it i " poor essayist quotes the sacred books to prove that in ancient times, when women were beautiful, virtuous and modest, their feet were not mentioned, The custom of fuotbinding was not introduced until the times of China's degeneracy had com-moneed, and is to be condemned on the ground that it isa now to the classical age of Chit the call to-day, but do not mistake fo Golden ge, its medieval period which is only the shadow of China's archaic splendor, AID essayists contended that the custom was a sin against Heaven, an_ offence inst their country that bound feet were gly, that the custom made women deceitful and artful, and the family lurd-hearted. As one man pathetically expressed it, "How can fathers and brothers sit unmoved while a child with bound feet is crying like " little being killed?" 'They unanimously declared bound feet to be exceedingly men venient in seasons of calamity, conflagration, fived, robbers, rebellion, or revolution.' Then not only are the womon useless in rescuing or protecting children and property, but men are likely to get killed in trying to save the women folk. Chinese doctors said that the custom caused sluggish circulation, and took away from the recuperating power of women. One Esculapius had six arteries all start from the feot, and he described th course from thence to different or body. The artery going t" the heart stirs up trouble there and women complain that their hearts are not at ease. Biliousness, headache, indigestion and other ailments are caused in bound-footed women by the arteries from the feet. creating prin in the various viscera with which they connect. One political economist wrote that a country's wealth is directly proportionate to the number of its producers, and inversely in relation to the number to its consumers. In China by far the greater number of women are mere consumers. As one invalid will need several members of the family to wait on her, so in China the legitimate work of men is constantly hindered through women's helplessness. Tu Western countries women are strong, able to walk many miles; their different faculties are developed, and they are really just about as much use as men. China not only loses such ce-operation, but her sons are weaker than the foreigners, having been born of bound-footed women. The most striking argument commenced with a quotation from some classic in the Han Dynasty to the effect that the moral and physical nature of childrens der ved entire-Ly through the mother. Now in China the women ate inert, timid, cravea, used to zeceiving blows without power either to defend themselves or to retaliate,' Like mother, like child." 'To-day in the of she' Powers, China has become bound-footed woman.
A motion brought forward by Mrs. Bondfield to make Rule 2 more adaptable to the needs of the Society was seconded by Mrs. White-Cooper nnd carried.
Ta the course of a fow remarks, Bir. Bondfield paid a tribute of praise to the great zeal and active earnestness of the organising secretary, Mrs, Little, and the other heads of the Society.
Mies. Little said they all wished to work very hard, and there was a great opening for the spread of literature on the work and aims of the Society. _A vote of thanks to Mrs, Little for presiding closed the meeting.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.