The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 20, 1898, Page 21

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MARCH 20, 1898. SMAL One of Them Measures Exactly Three Inches, and the Proud Owner Is Galled the “Lily of Gold” by Her Admiring Gountrywomen. O have small feet is the aim of every fair Celestial maiden. Their s may not be as almond shaped as they would wish them to be, their faces not round enough, their nails mu be too short, but if their feet are tir then all other troubles count as nothing with them. To be the proud and happy possessor of a minute, distorted pair of feet is a thing of joy and beauty forever, according to the Chinese standard of the beautiful. Nor is it easy %o have feet sufficiently tiny to sat the cravings of the aris- - Chinese maidens. Feet that appear ridiculously small and unman- ageable as their possessors toddle in and out the busy thoroughfares are “heap big” in the eyes of the half dozen Chinese women who have feet small enough to satisfy the most fastidious mandarin. Among all the Chinese women who help to make this city picturesque there are but six with really small feet—that is, their feet are called small by even the rigid Chinese standard. These six women were eagerly snatched up a wives by the most prominent member: of the rich and powerful Six Companies the moment they landed in San Fran- cisco. In fact, they were brought here for that purpose, and in the matrimonial contracts it was distinctly stated that their price would not be paid unles they were women with “Lilies of Gold, for it is by that poetical name that the Chinese women with surpassingly small feet are known. The length of the feet of these six women varies from 3% to 4lz inches. The wife of Mr. Sing, powerful in the has the smallest foot of shoe from toe tip to heel line measures exactly 3% inche: Down in Chinatown when Mrs. Sing )ears on the street in her gorgeous supported on either side by a nt, the women and children crowd e doors and windows to see “The Lily of Gold” pass. Even with the help of her women attendants, Mrs. Sing sways to and fro in a perilous manner when she ¢ pts to walk on the street In wn house she moves about Six Compani them all. H from room to room by balancing her- self with her arms. If, however, it is ry to go through several rooms t depend on her arms alone, a parasol with which she self. very proud of his wife's s rather fluent English, he h that there are but "in the city, lingering fact that his wife is the t of the “lilies of gcld.” who does not understand a ¢lish, plied the gold threads t in the new pair of shoe v herself. She intuitive- r feet were the subject rsistently hid forgot and she > noticed e being rved she coyly cover m with her fan and slid them back. “A Chinese lady to show her feet,” zaid Mr. think it is what you call modest.” was asked, “‘that so few « pen have small feet like when they all bind them was done forsour wife?"” of verra fine fami the replv ry best fami- mily,” W s in the v lies ina understand how to prop- erly bind the to make them small. The mother it herself and she teaches her ren how to do it so rry they can do it to They keep the method mong themselves ymmon people never under- to do it.’ her feet?” pointing to one iting women belonging to his 'k how big her feet are. yet e bound when she was a child, - mother was of the common peo- he did not understand how it »per method that when they n their daughter a strict fognily the and tendant ref d one foot alongside that of her Tt was almost again as large. nding process is said to exert .dly depressing intluence upon the emoticmal character of the women who are subjected to the extremely painful process. Compared to Mrs. Sing. stolid and expressionless, the at- terdant seemed almost animated. Per- haps it was the awful torture that Mrs. tress. Sketch sh hood of the smaller bones. the feet e structure of a natural foot. i to endure to be a “lily of without a spark v wife,” continued Mr. Sing, nakes her own shoes. All the ‘lilies of gold’ in this city have to make their own shoes. Nobody else understands how. The shoemaker cuts out the little heel or sole and ‘Mrs. Sing does the yest. She has a couple of dozen pair. She has nothing else to do, so she likes to make the shoes, and_takes great pleasure in planning them.” Mrs. Sing permitted the shoe she was working on to be examined. As a specimen of needlework it would have received mention at a guild. Pale blue and deep rose silk entirely cov- ered by an intricate design in gold thread that must have taken days of patience to accomplish. The only evidence Mrs. Sing gave of having a personal desire of her own s when her hushand spoke to her of sitting for a photograph. She pleaded Wwith him in a high, not unmusical, voice, and for a few moments he con- looked at them a long time, and you know with us that is the same as a declaration of love. She did not hide her feet from his gaze, so he knew that she would favor his suit. You can imagine how he felt when he found that she had just stuffed a pair of shoes that belonged to a ‘lily of gold" and let them show under her dress, while she held her own big feet surled up out of sight. Of course when she got up to walk he found out that she had been fooling him. Oh, some Chi- all aristocratic women compress their feet until they approach the shape of hers. The Emperor was delighted at her magnanimity. Her generosity in being willing that the other women should have feet equally as beautiful as hers delighted him. He proclaimed an im- perial edict and from that time foot binding in China became a national institution. Thus by forcing upon her sisters her misfortune the Princess Taki hid her deformity from her husband and kept his admiration at the expense of all the women of China. The Chinese begin to bind the child’s feet when she is about 6 years old. It requiresa period of two or three years’ continual strapping by means of tight bandages before the desired effect is produced. There is a varying degree of pain. During the first year it is al- most intolerable. It gradually dimi jshes as the binding of all the joints is completed. 3 During the binding period the girt LEST CHINESE EEET - AFTRICH dry and shriveled. In after years the leg usually regains the muscles and adipose, but the foot always remains small. Next to Mrs. Sing’s foot, the smallest foot looks immense, and the foot ‘of the average Caucasian would make al- most three of the size of Mrs. Sing's. Day in and day out Mrs. Sing plays with her fans, talks with her women as they do up her hair in the wondrous fashion of her country, or embroiders her shoes, always happy in the thought that she is a “lily of gold,” and com- pletely, forgetful of the terrible tor- ture she endured before she won that proud Chinese title. —_——— In the parish church of Kiddington, in Suffolk, some strange seating ar- rangements are in vogue. The con- gregation is divided into four classes— gentry, tradesmen, laborers and the very poor (those in receipt of relief and so on), ‘who are not allowed to sit in the pews at all, but have to Exact size of Mrs. Sing’s shoe; itis just three and a fourth inches from tip 1o tip. Mrs. Sing makes her own shoes, and they are very beautiful in colors and fancy st tches. Making her own shoes, embroidery and talking to “her women” are all she is allowed to do by her proud husband. descended to argue with h commanded her and she consented witli the docility and obedience that a Ch nes: woman is taught to maintain toward her husband. g Her foot with the shoe and bandages off is scarcely three inches in length. What would have been the foot proper, Then he owing how the instep of the “Lily of Gold" is abnormally developed by the bandaging back in In some cases the toes ate pressed under and pressed tightly against the soles of The above cut is the exact size of the foot of a «Lily of Gold.” The center cut represents the’ The remaining cut represents the bone structure of a foot of a “Lily of Goid." had nature been allowed to take its course, was pressed up and forms an abnormal instep. The toes are bent un- der and are pressed tight against the sole of the foot. When her photograph was taken Mrs. Sing quietly resumed her work. “Chinese girls all jealous of ‘lilies of gold,” " said Mr. Sing, * all wish they had them. I knew a very rich China- man who went back to China to get a wife. He wanted a ‘lily of gold’ and he was rich erough to buy one. He found one with the most beautiful feet. He From a photograph taken spe girls verra cute,” concluded Mr. with a broad smile. a truth so it would seem. And ding to the most popalarly be- d ta as a cut Chinese it i - the n: accountable castom of d the This Princ Taki, lived about time of the j ys a nese poet 2 the sun, ire than sth her feet were Sh But be ™ ] » beautiful t¥ her club at feet she won the e i =0 com- tely r spell of her wity that 1e him b = that her ma 1 r most beautiful in the world e lived in constant terror that > day the child- Emperor would be no longer blinded by her other charms and would see her feet as thev really were. At last she hit upon a plan whereby she could feel secure. She told her hus- band that the other women of the royal family were so * alous of her small feet that they made her life un- bearable. She lamented bitterly that they did not all possess smalil feet like her own since they were so anxious to have them. She proposed that her husband issue a royal edict commanding that her Je » pressu the y r degree of pai ng their leg the poor night lies with position as to mak at in such a under the rts below . oper: > end of a e inside of the four m under the foot. band- age is rev s to compress the foot i ) ft for a month and The z wh is then n the bandage moved the foot is found ulcerated, one or two toes not eyuen being lost. If the foot is thus bound for two ars it becomes virtuaily By ¢ , the bon ars from lack of ex i the parts are attenuated and all any are sit in the aisle on wooden chairs. The children of the tradesmen and labor- ers’ sit ne: the church door, and are in charg f the sexton, who is armed with a stick, which now and then comes down on some boy’s head, mak- ing a nc loud enough to be heard all over the church. MAX MULLEK'S KEMINISCENGES. Max Muiler the Royal In related. He records cation that he had brilliant audiences. All the best men of the town were there. Bven royalty sometimes put in an appearance. But the old ba- bitues of the Royal Institution were not easy to please. The front row rally occupied by old men ring trumpets, old Indians, old erals, old cle men, &c. A num- r of ladies came in with their news- papers and unfolded them before the lecture began and seemed to read them with their eyes, while their ears were suppozed to follow the lecturer. ' onceit is sometimes very s Jecture experiences at ution are amusingly with due grati o M AR e Tow o R MRS. SING AND THE SMALLEST FEET IN AMERICA AND IS THE Wi FAMILY OF “HIGH CLASS CHINE MEMBER OF THE PO EXACTLY TH E WONAN MEASURE! indi who s nephew, son ¢ voic the iendid said delightfui knew.’ tinued, ‘t} a Eve s brew nd that f the world, scepied, have come out ew and out of Parad 1 much humiliated, and when me up 1 told him what had ‘Oh, you must not be dis- raday happened. couraged,” he said. 1 hard ever lec- ture on chemistry without an old dow- yming up to me with an incredu- mile, saying, ‘Now, Mr. Fara- that ou don’t really mean to say rter 1 drink is nothin en and hydro something will always had Max Muller as well as deliver Jectures. to make speeches This side torical career furnishes an anecdote. At one of the demy dinners he had to re- re and scholar- of hi. interestin Hoyal Ac turn thanks for literat ship. He sat opposite to Robert Browning, who was known to be firmly opposed to getting on his feet. E was, course, rehearsing my speech during the whole of the dinner time, while he enjoyed himseif talk- ing to his friends. “When I told him that 1 should be made a martyr while he was enjoying his dinner in peace. he laughed, and said that he had =aid ‘No’ once for all, and that he had never in his life made a public speech. 1 believe, as a rule, poets are not good speakers. They are too care- ful about what they wish to say. As dinner advanced I became more and mere convinced of the etymological identity of honor and onus. At last v turn came. ‘Having to face the brilliant so- ciety which is always present at this dinner, including the Prince of Wales. or of it was a shame of EW CHINESE W MRS COMPANIES.” NEAR THAT SIZE. for The Call. of both parties, the most I , authors and learned my tiing on aw the and saying At once s broken. ih I began to r 1 could have said anything it m > the .Prince 3 v t could: have been, hinking in every di- 3 d speechless. I an cternity, and 1 was to collapse and sreatest fool of myself that 3 1 looked at Browning and wie a friendly nod. and at that my erappling-irons caught le and 1 was able to finish gave he it was over I turned to : d: ‘Was it not fear- . that pause ‘Far from it he said. ‘It was excellent. It gave life vour speech. Everybody saw you collecting your thoughts, and ‘ou were not simply delivering ou had learned by heart. Be- sides. it did not last half a minute.” To me it had seemed at least five or ten minutes. But after Browning’s good natured words I felt relieved, and en- ced at least what was left of a most enjovable dinner. the only enjoyable public dinner 1 know.” In conclusion let me quote an excel- lent apothegm about the impression Which poets make upon their readers: “To have known such men as Ten- nyson and Browning.” says the pro- fessor, indeed a rare fortune. helps us two ways. We are pre- served from extravagant admiration, which is always stupid, and, on the other hand, we can enjoy even insigni- ficant verses of theirs, as coming from our friends and lighting up some cor- ner of their character. “There are cases where personal ac- quaintance with the poets actually spoils our taste for their poetry, which We might otherwise have enjoyed; and to imagine that one knows a poet bet- ter because one has once shaken hands with him is a fatal mistake. It would be far better to go at once to West- minster Abbey and spend a few thoughtful moments at the tombs of such poets as Tennyson or Browning, for there. at all events, there would be no disappointment.” Mirs. Sing is known among the envious Chinese women as the “Lily of Gold,” the title bestowed upon proud Chinese women who possess The above picture shows how Mrs. Sing’s feet look dressed in the shoes that take her weeks to make. these extraordinarily Sl Tast. From a photograph taken specially for The Call