180 ON MARRIAGE AND INFANTICIDE IN CHINA. 



man, whose daily wages are five cents, will find it a tedious business 

 to accumulate so large a sum. Even a mechanic, earning from ten to 

 fifteen cents a day, must wait several years before this amount can be 

 secured. A man who can save ten or twelve dollars a year will, in 

 seven years, be able to buy a wife. It is worthy of note that, in 

 Western Asia, 3,500 years ago, Jacob gave seven years service for a 

 wife. It must not be forgotten that a large part of a young man's 

 wages is often appropriated to the support of his parents, and that 

 his "marriage-fund" grows very slowly. The hopelessness of his 

 condition often leads to a relaxation of effort ; and, looking forward 

 to a desolate old age as the only issue of his exertions, he becomes 

 disheartened and gives up the struggle. 



Of course, when parents have the ability, they gladly purchase 

 wives for their sons. Self-interest alone would induce them to do 

 this, for they may hope thus to secure grandsons to support them in 

 their old age, even if they should lose their sons. Just as, in France, 

 a parent puts aside money to secure a son against the conscription, so, 

 in China, does he strive to accumulate enough to purchase a wife for 

 him at the earliest suitable age. 



Another plan is often adopted, especially where there is only one 

 son, and the parents feel doubtful of their ability to accumulate 

 money enough to purchase a wife. A girl fully marriageable is worth 

 eighty dollars, but a girl five years old is worth much less ; and, in- 

 deed, may sometimes be obtained for nothing. A little girl is there- 

 fore obtained, and reared in the family, as a wife for the son. A 

 difficulty about this arrangement is that the children learn to love 

 each other as brother and sister, and feel no disposition toward a con- 

 jugal union. Where this happens, the girl is sold to another, and 

 the proceeds of the sale are expended in the purchase of a wife for 

 the son. Where, however, the marriage does take place between per- 

 sons thus brought up together, it is esteemed very satisfactory. The 

 parents have a daughter-iii-law whom they have long loved as their 

 own child, and thus a fruitful source of domestic trouble is eliminated. 



After all the industry, economy, and contrivance to obtain a wife, 

 the desired results do not invariably follow. In the first place, the 

 wife may prove barren, and then the labour is all lost. In the next 

 place, the wife may bear daughters, and no sons, and then the failure 

 is equally complete ; for daughters, when married, are lost to the 

 family — having been, by the fact of marriage, entirely transferred. 



