Page:"Round the world." - Letters from Japan, China, India, and Egypt (IA roundworldletter00fogg 0).pdf/130

 manner, with a profusion of gold and silver ornaments. What I shall call the “jug handle” style seems to be the most popular.

The custom of binding the girls' feet is not so universal as I first supposed. It is a mark of gentility, and among the fashionable and wealthy classes of women of whom the stranger sees very few, it is said to be universal. But the great mass of the poorer women in the city and country appear to have feet of the natural size. I have seen in the shops elegant little shoes, which are designed for the use of full grown women, less than three inches long; and occasionally in the streets ladies dressed in silks and satins may be seen toddling along, as proud of their little feet, as a western belle would be of her wasp like waist. Fond mothers commence to bind their daughter’s feet when very young with narrow strips of cotton wound tightly about them, until the foot assumes the form of an acute triangle, the big toe forming the apex, the others being bent under the foot and almost absorbed. The effect of this deformity is to produce an ungraceful, tottering gait, which, however, is associated here with the idea of good breeding and gentility.

While at Shanghai I was glad to accept the invitation of a very wealthy Chinese merchant to visit his house, which was situated in the old Chinese city. Accompanied by a friend, I entered through a half ruined gateway, and threaded the narrow streets reeking with filth, an abomination to any one possessed of eyes to see or nose to smell with. On one of these streets, where the green and slimy water standing in the gutters on either side would breed a pestilence, even in the temperate zone, was a high brick wall and in the center a heavily barred gate. At our summons the gate was opened by a well dressed porter, and we entered a handsome courtyard, through which we passed into the house of the merchant. He met us at the threshold and bade us welcome, then led the way through several suites of rooms elegantly furnished in the Chinese style. Most elaborate carvings in stone and marble over the doorways, and in one ream the wainscoating of dark wood was carved in bas relief, so as to represent a legend or story of Chinese history. Through four or five rooms, each more elegant than the preceding, then across a miniature garden filled with rare flowers, and bordered with dwarf