Chap. VI. FARMERS AND THEIR FAMILIES. 



99 



if more labour is required, the stranger is hired to 

 assist them. They live well, dress plainly, and 

 are industrious, without being in any way op- 

 pressed. I doubt if there is a happier race any- 

 where than the Chinese farmer and peasantry. 

 Being well known in this part of the country, and 

 having always made it a point to treat the people 

 well, I was welcomed wherever I went. I began 

 to feel quite at home in the farmers' houses. 

 Here the female members of the family have 

 much more liberty than those of a higher rank. 

 They have small feet as usual, but they are not so 

 confined to the house, or prevented from looking 

 on and speaking to strangers, as the higher classes 

 are. If a stranger enters the court of the house 

 unexpectedly, he will see a number of ladies, both 

 old and young, sitting in the verandah, all indus- 

 triously employed on some work — some spinning, 

 some sewing or embroidering, and one probably 

 engaged in culinary operations ; and if the stranger 

 be an unknown foreigner, the whole will rise hur- 

 riedly, and disappear like a covey of partridges, 

 overturning wheels, stools, and anything else that 

 may be in their way. This was a frequent scene 

 in my earlier visits, but it gradually wore off 

 when it was found I was a civilised being like 

 themselves. These same ladies afterwards w^ould 

 often ask me to sit down, and even set a chair 

 for me, and bring me a cup of tea with their owni 

 fair hands ; -and while I drank my tea, they w^ould 

 go on with their work, laughing and chatting as 



I 



