Among the objects which excited our
curiosity were the tiny shoes of the small-footed woman. These were
not quite three inches in length, and looked as if they were more
suited for a doll's feet than for a full grown woman's. Yes, here was
the evidence of a barbarous custom which deprives a human being of one
of nature's good gifts, so necessary to our comfort and happiness.
Think what you would be, if, through infirmity, you were not at
liberty to go hither and thither at will like the young hart or
gazelle! We grieve naturally if our children's feet are deformed or
misshapen at birth, but what a crime it is to destroy the form and
strength of the foot as God has made it! It is true that the Manchu
women in China rejoice in the feet which the beneficent Creator has
given them. The Dowager Empress--of whom we have read so much of late,
and who rules China with an iron rod, has feet like any other woman;
but millions of her countrywomen have been robbed of nature's
endowment through a foolish and wicked custom which has prevailed in
China from time immemorial. The feet are bound when the child is born,
and they are never allowed to grow as God designed, as the flower
expands into beauty from the bud.
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