74 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



part of the Chinese people. Nearly all nations at some time in their 

 history have practised infanticide, and slavery has not long been ban- 

 ished 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 preach- 

 ing 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 gov- 

 ernment 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 thou- 

 sands 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 phil- 



