Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 82.djvu/78

74 part of the Chinese people. Nearly all nations at some time in their history have practised infanticide, and slavery has not long been banished from our midst. The factors which have combined to keep up these practises may be traced back perhaps to the religion of the country which is that of ancestor worship. To this is due the over-population of the country in part; to this is due the marked preference for male rather than female offspring, as it is only through the former that the ancestor worship may be maintained; to this is due the early child marriages and secondary marriages, both of which tend to crush the young girl. It is knowing these facts, which impell the thinking people of Christian lands to feel the burden of sending to non-Christian countries those apostles who shall preach a religion of the spirit which knows no distinction of sex, or class, or race. To the teaching of a spiritual religion must be added the teaching of modern science and economics, for the practical mind of the Chinese can sometimes be reached by scientific laws and cold statistics where prayer and preaching fail.

The life of the daughter of the rich is not so bad, aside from the suffering of that ridiculous and antiquated practise of footbinding. So far as I know, no explanation has ever been found of this cruel custom and, besides the real suffering which the child undergoes, the individual is maimed for life and suffers not only the inconvenience of crippled feet, but also in general health from lack of exercise. In some families the daughters are given a little education in books as well as music and embroidery and, since the desire for the modern learning is spreading, it is said that every palace and official residence in Peking is filled with girls and women anxious to learn and who are studying as best they can.

It is certainly true that the educated women of China are making a name and a place for themselves and are working hard to better the condition of women as a whole. A visitor to that country to-day will find Chinese women as the heads of hospitals and in some cases also conducting nurses' training schools. They are principals of large government or private schools for girls, and many of them are doing excellent work. A few young women have graduated from American colleges, but the majority of principals and teachers are the products of mission or government schools. The very wealthy of course have private tutors and some of the most zealous women in founding schools for girls have been from princely families.

The ladies in their homes are also working for reforms and thousands signed petitions sent to England protesting against the opium trade which that country forces on China. They are forming anti-cigarette leagues and holding meetings at which some of them preside and speak with great intelligence and dignity. They are zealous in the anti-footbinding societies and take an active part in church and